The Best Laid Plans
by arun2110
Summary: Madara had a plan. The Yondaime ruined it. Madara made another plan. One that could not fail. But the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry and this one had just run straight into the number one most surprising ninja in Konoha, one Uzumaki Naruto.
1. Prologue

Best Laid Plans

Arun

Prologue:

The smoking corpses of the ANBU captain and his subordinates lay at his feet. The masked figure spat at the leader of the assassins and kicked the mutilated and rapidly cooling body of the captain. They had put up a good fight, but ordinary mortals could not hope to face a god of ninjas and live to tell the tale. Still, what he had read in his prey's mind had been intriguing. He would not have thought that even one such as the Yondaime could have pieced such disparate and seemingly random sets of data to discern the truth behind the veil of illusion.

But the Hokage had. This turn of events was intolerable. His plans had yet to ripen and secrecy was paramount at this stage. _What to do? _he asked himself. His razor sharp mind processed the constraints on his person and the tools at his disposal against the known capabilities of his enemies and the answer came to him in a spark of inspiration.

They were never going to expect this!

xxxxx

Three days later, flanked by his security detail, Sarutobi, the newly reinstated Hokage stood, surveying the scene of the recently concluded battle. Before him, the badly overworked personnel of the Konoha medics corps helped by even more badly exhausted ninja and supported by civilian volunteers cleared the debris in the search for survivors of the Kyuubi no Youko's attack. Through sheer luck, the will of fire and the Yondaime's supreme sacrifice, his ninja had managed the impossible. They had defeated a beast with the power to level mountains and drown entire nations at a whim and saved the village. But this day of glory was also a day of tragedy. Hundreds of ninja lay dead at his feet and hundreds more were so badly wounded that they would have to be retired from active duty. Husbands had lost their wives and wives their husbands and children their parents. And on top of it all, the hero was dead as was his wife and his legacy…

The old man shook his head. He knew the trials and tribulations that young Uzumaki Naruto would face as he grew up. The child would be hated for his prisoner and the fear it would forever instill in the hearts and minds of those who'd lived through this day in Konoha. Such was human nature and such was the way of the world. It would be better for little Naruto to grow away from the village preferably under the watchful eyes of either of his two loyal but wayward students, but one lived in the past unable and unwilling to heal her heart's wounds and the other had a duty to the nation. Duty that was supremely important and absolutely necessary to keep their opportunistic neighbors at bay and ward off disaster now that the village was significantly weakened. From a logical standpoint, there were other expatriates who could be trusted, of course, but as Hokage, Sarutobi could not chance Naruto and his prisoner falling into the hands of another village. All that was irrelevant, however, for from an emotional standpoint, Naruto was his father's legacy and thus, was Konoha's as well. And he, the Sandaime, would be damned before he banished the fourth's son from the village his parents had died to save.

Sarutobi turned from the field. He had a meeting with the council to plan for the future in a little while. But before he departed, he made a solemn vow to himself. The survivors may hate the boy and fear and loathe him, but as his first official act as hokage, he would ensure that the hatred would die with them.

xxxxx

Elsewhere, as the sunset over the horizon, the masked figure fumed. Of all the results he had expected when he unleashed the kyuubi, he had not expected this. What was it with the damned village and its hokages, anyways?

In one stroke, his trump card had been neutralized. Granted, he and it had been defeated once before, but that was because his accursed opponent's bloodline was the perfect counter to the ultimate weapon of his own. But now, it was clear. The beast was not invincible. If one village could produce two nins with the power to defeat the kyuubi within the span of a hundred years, it was no longer enough to depend on the creature alone. Not that it was his to command anymore. The Yondaime, riding him of the most powerful tool in his repertoire, had sealed it into a newborn and handed over its reins to his most hated enemies! Perhaps he should have selected another course of action…

_No_, he forcefully told himself. There was no point second-guessing what was done and over with. Reality was what it was. The strong did not shy from facing whatever ugly truth the world threw at them. To do so was a sign of weakness and he was not weak. He would not weaken himself by denying fact and deluding himself with fantasies. If his enemies controlled the nine tails, he would control the other tailed beasts. He would unleash his Akatsuki on the world and they would reap a crop of blood and death as never before. A hundred years from now… No, a thousand years from now, they would whisper in fear about the vengeance he wreaked on his foes for sullying his honor so long ago.

_Let the rain of blood begin!_ thought the masked stranger as the last rays of sun faded from the land and night unfurled its dark shroud across the land.

Author's notes:

Like it? Hate it? Please leave reviews or IM me. My handle is ArunPrb on AIM.


	2. I'm Become Ninja

Best Laid Plans

Arun

Disclaimer:

I don't own Naruto. I'm just borrowing the Naruto-verse for a wee while.

Readers, be warned that this is AU. Don't flame me if the story doesn't develop as per canon. Not that I'm worried about that seeing the huge number of readers who reviewed the prologue. LOL

Chapter 1: I'm Become Ninja…

Sarutobi heaved a sigh and blew smoke out in a slow stream, weighing his favorite pipe in his right hand as he contemplated the faces of the other hokages carved into the hillside. Seven years had passed since the fateful day since the kyuubi brought Konoha to its knees. There had been some very tough times in between, but the village had weathered them like it had the Shinobi wars with its ever-watchful ninja standing guard at the walls.

During those seven years, the rapid expansion program that the Hokage had initiated after the kyuubi disaster had paid off nicely and the ranks of shinobi had bounced back to what the army of the Fire country's mission statement called for in times of peace. Even though compromises were made at the start, what with the threat of war looming over the horizon, the quality of the soldiery had improved handily over time thanks to rigorous training and Darwinian selection. Now, both the civilian and the military establishments were finally back to their pre-attack levels. In short, the future looked bright for Konohagure no Sato with most of the uncertainties and fears of the past few years gone. Bright enough, in fact, that Sarutobi had started entertaining thoughts of spending more than a few hours every week with his toddler grandson.

_Naturally, _the aged Hokage thought with a trace of weariness, _spies had to overhear talk of Naruto and his prisoner. _It was the worst-case scenario really, for the spies had not been from any of the satellite villages of Konoha or nations allied with it. No, they had been infiltrators from Kumo, which so soon after the Hyuuga incident may have been enough to start a war if the victim had been anyone other than the village pariah.

Sarutobi's grip on his precious pipe tightened a wee bit as his fingers clenched. The Hyuuga incident and the tragedy that befell that clan in its aftermath should have been enough of a wakeup call to tighten security, but the latest event proved that it was as lax as ever. The Hokage promised himself that in the next few days, after both the Military Police and the ANBU Interrogation submitted independent reports on the attempt on Naruto, heads were going to roll; literally. God have mercy on those suspected of treason or gross incompetence because none was going to be forthcoming from the office of the Hokage. Infiltrators should not have been able to come within a mile of both the legacy of the Yondaime and the heir to the Hyuuga much less get within arm's length of both.

Thankfully, fortune had smiled on Naruto as it had on little Hinata-chan and his abductors had the misfortune of dealing with not one but two Uchihas who were in the neighborhood. And not just any two scions of that prestigious clan either. From preliminary reports, young Itachi and his cousin Shisui had heard the sounds of fight put up by Naruto's guard, and had rushed to the scene. Thereafter, against the might of one of three great doujutsu, the kidnappers had not stood a chance.

_Still, they could have curtailed their natural aggression and been less flashy, _Sarutobi thought with mild irritation. The two Uchiha had gone about the business with the same bloody-mindedness that was fast earning them a reputation among shinobi ranks. The Hokage's annoyance had nothing to do with worries about their craftsmanship. From experience, he knew that the two nin in question were as professional as they come. No, what irked him had to do with their flamboyance and their lack of foresight. Whatever the definition of prudence and thoughtfulness were, cutting a man into so many pieces with a blade that it literally rained blood on a child was definitely not it. He had half a mind to take the punks to task and throw the box their ears for that one!

"Hokage-sama, the boy is ready to see you," the chuunin stand-in for the Hokage's aide, who'd called in sick that day announced.

"Bring him in. Send in Itachi and Shisui as well. Send for Ibiki. I'll see him after this meeting."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," the chuunin said and withdrew, but not before showing in the three boys.

Sarutobi bade the trio sit with a wave of his hand and considered them. The usually exuberant Naruto was subdued, but that was to be expected given the ordeal he'd endured. On any other day, the Hokage would have been hard pressed to resist the urge to pull at the blond's cheeks for his squeaky clean appearance and the wide-eyed look he was shooting at his two companions. The blond runt was forever dirty, which given his lack of playing partners his age was not easy to explain. Given the events of the day, however, the Hokage was sure that he did not want to do that. While kids were stronger than adults in many regards, with their remarkable ability to bounce back from things that would kill or destroy older men and women, even they could not recover after bathing in blood. Not without severe long-term psychological impact, at least. Oh yes, he needed to have a long talk with the boy before the day was out and then have another talk with the caretaker at the orphan's home to keep an eye on him for sometime to come.

The two Uchihas, on the other hand, sat calm and collected. Itachi was seemingly oblivious to the boy staring wide-eyed at him whereas Shisui returned the stare with a friendly smile. Sarutobi noted Naruto's eyes widen even further at the smile and felt a pang of regret for a childhood stolen away for the greater good.

"Little Naruto, are you alright?" he asked turning his gaze back to the boy.

The boy nodded, shyly, as he was often wont when in the presence of others before the Hokage.

"Yeah," he ventured softly. He turned to Shisui. "What's your name, nii-san?"

The Hokage burst into a smile. This was not going to be one of Naruto's shy outings, after all.

"I'm Uchiha Shisui, Naruto-kun."

"Why are your eyes black now? They were red this afternoon."

The meeting continued on in that vein. The Hokage had decided even before he called for the meeting that its sole purpose was to introduce Naruto to his rescuers so that he could see them as humans, which would go a long way towards reducing the trauma of the day. He would get the details from the After Action Report later. From all appearances, it seemed to be working too for Naruto became more and more animated through the course of the hour and even went so far as to crawl into Shisui's lap once. The smile the Hokage flashed the young Uchihas held genuine warmth thus when the meeting came to a close at the end of the hour.

"Jiji," Naruto said in a timid voice after the door closed behind the two departing ninjas, "I was afraid."

The third shot a tender look at the child seated before him. Sitting on that oversized chair with that vulnerable look, Naruto was picture incarnate of a child afraid and all alone with no one to help him face his fears. The old man's heart melted at the sight and he rose from his seat. He picked the boy up in his hands, groaning inwardly at his creaking old bones, and nested Naruto on his waist. He wiped away the tears, which had started as soon as he was lifted up, and patted the boy gently until the sniffling died down. Then, pulling away a little, he made eye contact with the youngster, tweaking the boy's nose and tousling his hair one after the other with his free hand. Afterwards, he took Naruto to his favorite ramen stand and then, seeing as it was evening, to the park. The Uzumaki chased dragonflies under the Hokage's watchful eyes for sometime before returning to Sarutobi's lap.

"Jiji."

"Yes, Naruto."

"What happened today?"

"Some bad men came to take you away from the village."

Naruto's eyes widened.

"Really?"

"Really," Sarutobi nodded for emphasis. "Itachi-kun and Shisui-kun were protecting you."

"They were scary," Naruto whispered.

"Who?"

"Itachi-nii-san and Shisui-nii-san. They moved so fast."

"They're ninjas," the Third reminded the boy.

"There was so much icky blood," Naruto's whisper dropped even further. He repeated his earlier words, unconsciously wiping his hands on his trousers as if to remove body fluids, "I was so afraid."

"They were performing their duty, Naruto-kun. Ninja guard the village."

"Why?"

Sarutobi considered. How to describe why doughty men stood guard at the gates shielding the civilian populace from the darkness beyond? As young as he was, Naruto would not – could not – understand the sacrifice and love involved in the act. But the boy's question touched the very heart of the issue. How best to describe so complex a philosophy in such a way that a child of seven could understand? After a few seconds, the third had the answer.

"To protect their precious ones. They do what they do so that their precious ones can live happily."

"Am I precious?" Naruto asked with quivering lips. His eyes brimmed with unshed tears at the question and Sarutobi's heart broke anew at the pain reflected in his blue eyes.

"Yes, Naruto. You're my precious person."

The boy burst into tears then for the second time in the day, hugging the third tightly. Sarutobi stroked his hair and whispered little words of love into the boy's ears as he cried. When Naruto's sobs finally wound down, he wiped his teary eyes with the back of his hand even as the Hokage cleaned his dripping nose with the sleeve of his formal robe. By this time, it was getting late, but Sarutobi wasn't concerned. He had long since cancelled all his appointments for the day and so, it was not as if he would have to meet an emissary or an official with booger on his person. But that thought was at best fleeting and was meaningless really, since the third loved the boy so.

"Jiji," Naruto said sometime later as they sat under the fading sunlight. "I want to be a ninja."

Sarutobi turned Naruto around to face him and tousled his sun-kissed hair. It was not hard to follow Naruto's thoughts really. This was the youngster's way of showing his love back to the Third. The seasoned old campaigner's heart grew even heavier as emotions surged in his chest. Greater love than the willingness to lay down one's life for loved ones, there was not.

"Yes, you will," he said, solemnly, answering the unasked question. He would enroll the boy into the academy tomorrow and maybe gift him a few scrolls on taijutsu seeing as how his eyes had lit up slightly when he talked about speed. He pulled Naruto close to his chest and gazed at the evening star in the sky above. "Yes, you will."

xxxxx

Five years later…

It had been an eventful five years, so to speak. Naruto whistled to himself as he put the final touches on his magnum opus. It was the culmination of three weeks of planning and five years of accumulated experience, but the effort and the pains were worth it. Surely, after this, his name would be remembered as the greatest prankster in the history of Konoha. He chuckled at the thought before bursting into a full belly laugh.

_Yes,_ _that ought to put a burr up their hairy asses, _he thought as he contemplated his art and laughed some more. Truly, the hokage monument had never looked so good. He could not wait to see their reactions and so, he sat atop the Yondaime's head and waited as twilight became morning and Konoha awoke to a day of infamy. _Or fame, _he reminded himself, _if you look at things from a certain perspective, that is._

Sure enough, as citizens started coming out to start their day, cries of indignation filled the air along with the occasional belly laugh from grizzly veterans. The squad of chuunins sent to apprehend 'that prankster brat' as the Hokage put it, found Naruto on the monument half an hour later. The leader of the squad shook his head and chuckled as Naruto carved a slice off the apple he was munching and offered it to him.

Later, after the customary talk from Iruka and the chuunin captain, Naruto lay hogtied on Iruka's table before his classmates in a rather good imitation of a roasted pig with an apple in his mouth in place of the gag.

"The finals are tomorrow," Iruka announce brightly, patting Naruto, "I had originally planned to give you the day off, but thanks to the little piggy here, I've decided that you all have way too much time on your hands."

The class groaned as one with even Shikamaru joining the crowd.

"It fills me with great joy to hear your enthusiastic cries," Iruka shouted over the cacophony. "Now, assemble before me. We're growing to rehearse the henge."

The rehearsal went as well as could be expected. Everyone managed tolerable to reasonably good henges, though some of the children looked exhausted by even that slight chakra expenditure. Iruka noted their names to fail them in the final exam as part of the weeding. Having chewed through the apple, Naruto oinked when it was Sakura's turn and earned himself an earful from both the young Haruno and Iruka for his efforts.

Finally, it was Naruto's turn.

"Oiroke no jutsu!"

Needless to say, the class burst into laughter. Kiba and Chouji drooled at Naruko's delectable derriere before they both realized where that train of thought was taking them. At end of day, the two boys decided as one in their minds, Naruto was going to pay for his mischief. Naruto, for his part, found their laughs distinctly unnerving.

xxxxx

The next day, Naruto walked into class late with several scrapes on his face and hands. Kiba and Chouji were already at their seats with mild black eyes on their faces. Akamaru barked at Naruto, drawing his attention and he grinned cheekily at his attackers. That plan of theirs sure did not work out right!

Iruka, flanked by Mizuki on his left, walked in a little later.

"All right, class," Iruka announced once the hustle and bustle of the class died down. "Throughout this year, you have been graded on your academic performance with tests and quizzes. There are those among you who've made passing grades already. But being a shinobi out on the field is about more than just book smarts. So, today, as with every class that came before you and every class that'll come after, we're going to have a daylong series of tests on your practical skills from taijutsu to genjutsu. File out to the training ground and wish you all the best of luck."

One after other, the class of nervous kids assembled on the training ground. The exam began with tests of proficiency at throwing kunai and shuriken and slowly graduated to the other shinobi arts. Even though Genjutsu had been taught in the academy since the founding of the village, this was the first year genjutsu evasion was being tested as part of the graduation exam. Many failed that part of the test, including Naruto, Kiba and Chouji, though Akamaru 'passed' with flying colors.

And then, it was time for the tests of ninjutsu and taijutsu. Well, it was not two separate tests, but a single one. A full contact, no holds barred match between students paired off against each other at the behest of the Hokage who had dropped by.

The spars went as well as can be expected with children twelve years old until it was Naruto's turn. The girls squealed as fan girls do when Sasuke's name was announced as Naruto's partner. The number one student against the academically mediocre and least popular blond? Surely, the winner of the fight was a no-brainer. This, passed the thought through the mind everyone gathered, was going to be decided in a pinch. All except Kiba, Chouji and the Hokage, that is.

So it came to be that Sasuke and Naruto faced off against each other in the genin graduation exam and as the two slipped into their stances, the Uchiha prodigy took a dig at his classmate.

"Better luck with the next year's graduation exam, dobe."

Naruto smirked.

"Hold on, Sasuke-teme, the ride is about to get wild," he said arrogantly and moved.

Naruto's speed immediately put Sasuke on the defensive. The blond came in with what was for all intents, a straight cross to the Uchiha's face with his right hand. The oh-so-many hours Sasuke had spent training in blocks and counters worked to his advantage. His hand came up to block the blow, but Naruto was already reacting. It was then that Sasuke's thoughts caught up with his reflexes and he knew that Naruto had planned for this exact reaction, but it was too late. Naruto's left leg spun in a kick that penetrated Sasuke's guard and impacted his ribs full force. Sasuke was thrown away, but managed to turn his uncontrolled fall into a magnificent skid against the dirt with skillful use of his hands.

Fan girls and assorted spectators gasped. The Hokage nodded to himself. This was exactly as he had expected.

"Is the dobe too fast for you?" Naruto smirked, sliding into another stance.

Sasuke spit on the ground and dusted the dirt off his shirt. He cracked his neck, rolled his shoulders and smirked back in return.

"Let's see you handle this," he said, rushing Naruto.

But Naruto could. The two exchanged blows at speeds that astonished the genin-wannabes, but it was clear within the first few minutes that Naruto had the upper hand. He could shift gears at will from Sasuke's level to somewhere above it, whereas to the trained observer, Sasuke had to keep firing on all cylinders just to keep up with his opponent. After a particularly brutal exchange, the two separated.

Iruka moved to stop the fight – and it was no longer for a spar – but the Hokage put a hand on the teacher's shoulder and shook his head. The boys had to get this out of their system now, or they would do it on their own later with no one around to ensure that things don't really get out of hand.

The two turned back prompted by a gasp from several of Sasuke's fan girls. Their eyes settled on the Uchiha and widened, for in the center of the ring stood Sasuke with two tomoe in each of his eyes.

The last survivor has awakened his family's most precious possession.

Naruto grinned toothily at the sight.

"So, you have those eyes. If you're related to Shisui-nii-san and his friend, its no wonder you improved so fast in the span of a single fight."

Sasuke looked confused for a second and then grinned on realizing the import of Naruto's words. Now that he thought about it, his reflexes had improved steadily over the course of the fight. With the sharingan awakened, he was that much closer towards avenging his clan's massacre.

'_And to think the dobe forced its expression on me…'_ At that moment, the last loyal Uchiha found a new and profound respect for his opponent grow in his heart. _'Perhaps…'_

"You have lost the match, Uzumaki," he said without his usual arrogance. "Nothing can withstand the might of the Sharingan."

"Famous last words," Naruto replied and blurred into motion faster than ever before.

Sasuke's sharingan spun and he knew what Naruto was going to do even before Naruto did. But Naruto was even faster than he was before – how dare the dobe play with him! – and Sasuke found to his disgust that while his mind worked fast enough, his body could not. Was this the worth of all the training he'd done? If he could not defeat this commoner with no clan to call his own, how could he defeat his accursed brother, who was possibly the greatest genius born in the most powerful ninja clan ever? Still, there was a hole the size of a truck in Naruto's all out attack and if he timed it right, he could KO the blonde into tomorrow and manage to pull a victory from the jaws of defeat. But whatever happened, he was sure of two things. One, he had a sparring partner who was worth his salt and two, he was going to work on his speed like there was no tomorrow.

Naruto's punch found its target unerringly even as Sasuke's fist came up in a non-regulation haymaker that would have ended the battle if it had connected. Sasuke knew that the fight was as good as lost as soon as he missed and Naruto's fist connected with his solar plexus. The excruciatingly painful blow knocked the breath out of the Uchiha. Still, even as he folded and flew back from the force of the punch, Sasuke's hands sped through the hand-seals for the gokakyu no jutsu faster than they ever had before. But there was no air in his chest to blow at his opponent. In desperation, as the chakra gathering in his thorax struggled for release, he forcefully ripped it out of his lungs. The action, combined with his inexperience at chakra manipulation, burst the air sacs within and burned his airways. But the resulting mild explosion of air combined with the aspirated blood was enough to produce a fireball tinged red.

Naruto knew he was done for as soon as Sasuke blew the fireball. Six feet separated him and the Uchiha at most, and that was five feet less too short to kill his forward momentum and retreat in time. Of course, he reasoned all this in his subconscious, but one need not be a rocket scientist to figure out there was simply no escape…

xxxx

_Water dripped from pipes in bad need of repair. Ankle deep water flowed leisurely under his feet. Disoriented, he looked around and saw that he was in a tunnel – possibly the sewers of Konoha – of some sort. This struck him as weird as he had been facing a ball of burning death just a moment before._

_What happened to it? Where was he?_

_His mind delegated all thought to the background as he espied a huge door with bars of wood so thick he didn't think he could wrap his arms around them. A piece of paper was glued to the wood with the word 'seal' calligraphed on it in kanji. Malevolent red eyes stared at him through the bars, seething with hatred and contempt._

'_Worthless brat!' a voice as ageless as the stars in the sky above boomed in deep basso. It was so powerful that the water under his feet and around the bars of the door rippled. 'I wish I could get my hands on you to torture and maim. Be gone!'_

_A wave of crimson water that burned to touch from pollution rushed out the door and…_

xxxxx

Witnesses to the fight felt a terrible killing intent wash over them. Many of the genin collapsed under the weight of that insane desire to kill and render even though it lasted only a fraction of a second. Some even voided their bowels and wet their pants in fear. Others shook so much that their knees knocked and their teeth clattered. Two of the most shaken children in the crowd would resign their commissions later that same day. All said and done, it was not the proud start to their careers the genin-hopefuls had wished for…

The center of the arena exploded just before the fireball hit Naruto. The children were too frightened by the short-lived spike of killing intent to even so much as twitch at the fireworks, though most of them were blown off their feet with abrasions and lacerations. Chuunins were made of sterner stuff, however, and Iruka gasped aloud. He was half-afraid for his student and half-fearful that the demon that slew his parents had escaped the cage that had shielded the world from its malevolence for so long. Sarutobi and Sasuke were the only ones to show no reaction to the explosion and the burst of power before it at all. Sarutobi because he had routinely faced foes who oozed killing intent as powerful, if not more so than what he'd felt just now and Sasuke because he was too busy flying through the air trying to breathe with burnt lungs. The former because he knew the commander could never show fear in the face of mortal danger lest his troops lose hope and surrender the will to fight, and the latter because he was too busy choking to death to care.

Sasuke hit the ground with a thud that was audible over the clatter of the dirt, pebbles, clods and sundry material thrown into the air as they rained down all around. He skidded and rolled against the debris-strewn ground and came to rest, sprawled against the school foundation. The Hokage did not so much as spare a glance at the Uchiha heir. From experience – he had tried something similarly stupid when he was the Uchiha's age himself – he knew that the boy was not really choking to death. Yes, the Uchiha would recover and under the administrations of a skilled medical practitioner, would not even lose any of his lung capacity, which would have ended his life as a ninja. He was more interested in Naruto whose escape he had followed with his skilled eyes as the boy flitted to a tree on the other side of the courtyard.

The Hokage's hidden retinue of ANBU appeared with their swords unsheathed at his side at that moment. The one on the rightmost flank leveled his sword and made to charge as part of the opening gambit but Sarutobi barked the order to stand down. His soldiers would not be needed today. At least, not to kill and/or die for the village.

Perched on a branch, Naruto sported a shit-eating grin on his face that he proudly displayed to the whole wide world. He had shown that prissy Uchiha who's who and what's what, now, hadn't he? Quite unlike his smile, Naruto's eyes were only for Sarutobi, who gave a slight nod of acknowledgement, which was all that the Hokage could spare for the moment. The promised ramen treat for graduation would come later.

"Call in medical support for Sasuke," Sarutobi told the commander of his guards.

The captain turned to his lieutenant, but the ANBU officer was already on the wireless asking for medics. He relayed the information on both the civilian and military frequencies while two of his squad mates rushed to the administer first aid to the Uchiha, who was frothing at his lips, but generally breathing.

Naruto chose to acknowledge his own pain at that moment. The hits that Sasuke had scored smarted like hell and his legs burned. He swayed on his feet as a wave of dizziness hit him out of nowhere. His eyes rolled in his head and he fell off the branch headfirst. If it were not for the ANBU who caught him, he would later acknowledge, the career of one Uzumaki Naruto, aspiring Hokage and number one most surprising ninja of Konohagure no Sato would have met an untimely end right then and there.

The rumor would spread through shinobi ranks and would contribute to his legend in years to come that the smile he wore never left the brat's face, however and unlike many of the rest, this one rumor was based on fact.

Author's notes:

Yes, Naruto won against Sasuke, but before you go bite my neck off, know that Naruto won only because Sasuke did not resort to ninjutsu till the very end. As to why Sasuke stuck to taijutsu, it could have been vanity or stupidity on his part. Really does not matter though. Naruto won. That's all that should and will matter.

BTW, if you can't figure out how Naruto got so fast or so good at taijutsu, wait till next chapter. I'll explain it as best as I can.


	3. Introductions & Other Accidents

Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 2: Introduction & Other Accidents

Disclaimer:

I don't own Naruto.

The two boys lay sedated on their hospital beds. Sasuke had an oxygen mask on him and Naruto had an IV attached to his right arm. The mask was mostly a precaution for the former and the IV to help with dehydration for the latter. The two elder nin who stood at the foot of their beds noted the troubled expressions on the face of both patients and the physical restraints to restrict their freedom of movement. The younger of the two visitors checked the case histories for both boys in turn, nodding thoughtfully at the notes within. Apparently, both were troubled sleepers whose rest was regularly interrupted by night terrors.

"So, these are my students," he said.

"Assuming you'll pass them, yes."

"They have potential," Kakashi admitted freely. He had heard of their graduation fight, as had probably the rest of the village by now.

"They're also the war orphans of their class. Naruto has had little love showered on him but plenty of hatred and much coldness. His life and the attempted kidnapping in his childhood have made him mentally scarred and morally unbalanced. Sasuke, while being admired by those around him, has had it as bad and is even worse off. My fears that the cruelty inflicted on him by his brother will return to haunt us all may still come true."

"There are those who argue that neither of these boys belong on the lines. Vocally for the former and quietly for the latter, I might add," Kakashi replied, fishing for the Hokage's thoughts on the issue.

The Hokage smiled.

"My boss is the Daimyo and he knows better than to tell me how to run his Ninja Corps. I would that the civilian figureheads in this village were as wise as he," he said, shooting a sly glance at Kakashi, "Does that satisfy you?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Good, because I have no doubt that the boys will blossom under the right guidance. They're both of the best crop this village has had in years. It'd be a crime to waste their potential, but I don't want them out on the field if they aren't ready. They may be unpolished gems, but they're also flawed. Exposing them to the shinobi world too soon may break them or have them turn rogue. They need to be nurtured carefully with the right blend of wisdom and yet, firmly guided so that they don't stray from the path. They have to be taught strength and at the same time, loyalty. Naruto has the later in plenty, as does Sasuke, but both have very little of it to the village. This is why I'm putting them under your tutelage. Teach them loyalty and true courage. Do not go easy on them."

"I won't. The third member?"

The Hokage blew out a puff of smoke.

"I'll be going over the list with Chuunins Iruka and Mizuki in a little while to decide on the third member of Team 7. You'll know by the end of the day. That'll be all, Kakashi."

xxxxx

"Hokage-sama, with all due respect, I object to including Haruno Sakura in the same team as those boys."

"Reasons, Chuunin Mizuki," the Sandaime asked, unperturbed.

"It would unbalance the teams, Hokage-sama," Mizuki replied.

"The suggested Team 7 would have the two best students in theoretical knowledge in Sasuke and Sakura, and the two best students in applied knowledge in Naruto and Sasuke," Iruka added.

"And the problem with that is?"

"It makes Team 7 much stronger than the other teams," Mizuki replied.

"And the problem with that is?" the Hokage asked, digging further. He leaned back in his chair with his arms on the armrest and his fingers intertwined at nose level as he waited for the teachers to explain their arguments in-depth.

"It would adversely affect the morale and motivation of the other teams. They'll believe that we're playing favorites. This will lead them to conclude there's something innately unworthy about them that made us favor Team 7 over them. My students don't need that kind of negative reinforcement at this stage in their careers, when they're so precocious. That fight between Naruto and Sasuke destroyed a lot of confidence and Team 7's composition will destroy what remains of it."

"Well reasoned, Chuunin Iruka. But my decision stands."

"But, Hokage-sama…"

"But nothing," the Hokage interrupted in a mild reprimand. "Ultimately, your duty is to follow orders. My orders and the Daimyo's."

Iruka mentally flinched at the Hokage's words. The gentle old man was never harsh with anyone during discussions without good reason. But for the life of him, Iruka could not imagine what those reasons were. Consequently, he shot an inquisitive glance at the aged commander.

"There are several faults in both your arguments. Here's one: Unlike what you believe, the other teams will be endangered if I swap one of their members with any of the three. Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto are too unbalanced to work in teams, but each of the three brings different skills to the table that when put together will be synergistic. I want the two of you to figure out what those skills are and I want a two page report on my table by lunch tomorrow."

The two chuunin looked at each other in confusion. Reports? For this? They were not school children, were they?

The Hokage chuckled at their flummoxed expressions.

"Surely, you did not think that you had learnt all there is to learn about the shinobi world, have you?" he asked. "Think of this as preparation for future commands."

The two nodded.

"Good. You two have also forgotten that Team 7 have yet to pass their jounin mentor's graduation test."

"You say that as if you expect them to fail, Hokage-sama?" Iruka asked in a curious voice.

"Fail? Not exactly, no! But their mentor Jounin Hatake Kakashi is very exacting. He has yet to pass a single graduating class assigned him."

"Then…"

"Then, nothing," the Hokage interrupted, much less harshly than before. "Assumption is the bane of all shinobi. Teams like the proposed Team 7 have managed to graduate and bloom under ardent mentors before. There has been at least one such team in every generation since the founding of the village. My mentors felt – and I do, too – that we're very lucky as a village to have it happen so frequently in Konoha when it happens rarely, if ever at all, in the other villages.

"I expect that report without fail tomorrow afternoon. Dismissed."

xxxx

The sun on his face woke Naruto. He stretched and yawned in the hospital bed and turned to face sleeping beauty beside him. Only, Sasuke was awake. Wide awake, in fact, and staring at Naruto with a peculiar look on his face. Naruto scratched the spot where he had the IV before and glared at the Uchiha in return. Seconds ticked by as both stubbornly waited for the other to break eye contact and admit defeat. Never one for patience, the exercise pissed off Naruto, who was already irritable in the mornings to begin with. Finally, he huffed and broke eye contact, eliciting a slight smirk from Sasuke at the small victory.

"What do you want, Uchiha?" Naruto asked grumpily.

"You're good," Sasuke replied.

"Yeah, I totally kicked your ass."

A frown marred Sasuke's face at the boast. Naruto noticed and smiled proudly.

"Yeah, I own you. Uzumaki Naruto, class nobody, owns the great Uchiha Sasuke."

Anger flashed in Sasuke's face for a brief moment and Naruto saw within it, the crazy animal barely restrained and carefully hidden under a façade of aloofness. He burst into laughter at the revelation and continued without giving Sasuke time to frame a reply, "Oh, this is great. You're crazy. Under that detached exterior of yours, you're as insane as I am."

The look on Sasuke's face was askance.

"Tell me, Sasuke," Naruto's voice dropped to a whisper even as his eyes met the Uchiha's in direct challenge, "how often does the desire to kill strike you?"

This time, it was Sasuke who broke eye contact.

"Everyday," he whispered back, looking into infinity. Then strongly, as if he dared the other to challenge him, "Every second, every minute, every hour of everyday. That's how often. I'm an avenger and I live to kill one man."

Naruto stared back at Sasuke for what seemed like hours, but was in fact only a few seconds and finally chuckled.

"I pity the bastard who pissed you off. But you haven't answered my question. What do you want?"

"Strength. Power. To kill that man," Sasuke replied, his voice now devoid of emotion as a haunted look dawned in his eyes. "I want to train with you."

Naruto bit his lips in thought. He knew he wasn't very smart, but even he could guess what the Uchiha was asking off him and how steep a price it would exact on his mind. The desire to be fastest had been stamped on his soul after his close encounter of the disemboweling kind followed by the bath in blood. His physical speed was what kept the mental demons at bay during the night and peace during the day. Training with him, Sasuke, with his sharingan, would gain that swiftness faster than you could say boo! And without that sense of safety guaranteed by his speed, Naruto knew he would go crazy with fear.

"You ask a lot," he sighed, weighing his options. _Possibly more of me than I can bear to lose and live with any semblance of sanity._

Sasuke nodded but did not reply.

Finally, Naruto sighed in defeat. Refusing wasn't really a choice as Sasuke would learn the speed with or without Naruto's help. The Uchiha would get many chances to see the latter in action in the coming weeks and months, after all.

"Alright, but it has to be an exchange. My speed for your jutsu."

Sasuke, who'd expected something akin to this, smiled.

"Done."

xxxxx

The last of the teams but Team 7 filed out with their sensei as the three genin stared daggers at their backs. It had been roughly half an hour since Iruka and Mizuki announced the teams and already, Team 7 were grinding their teeth in impatience not knowing that they were doomed to wait another two hours for their wayward teacher.

At first, the three sat silently, each lost in their own thoughts. Or rather, Naruto and Sasuke were lost in their own thoughts while Sakura made dreamy eyes at the Uchiha. Eventually, Naruto thumped the bench in annoyance and jumped over it to the blackboard. He grabbed the pieces of chalk lying around and without warning, wound up and threw at Sasuke, who had followed his teammate's actions with a disinterested look on his face. Obsidian eyes flashed crimson speckled with pitch-dark teardrops and an open palm shot between the chalk and the target, intercepting it.

"Naruto, what do you think you're doing, throwing that at Sasuke-kun?" Sakura shouted in annoyance, snapping out of the pleasant daydream she had been having about the Uchiha and rising to her feet.

Naruto shot her a look full of loathing and contempt in return. Without seeming to, he observed Sasuke's reaction to their teammate's interference, out of the corner of his eyes. Sakura ground her teeth at being treated like dirt and made to take a step forward to berate the Uzumaki at length when Sasuke shoved past her, clutching Naruto's projectile in his hand.

_Yeah, Sasuke-kun, go and show him what happens when he messes with you, _inner Sakura cheered.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura said aloud, "ignore him. He's annoying."

Sasuke stopped mid-step and turned to regard her. Sakura flinched at the look of utter disdain in his eyes.

"No," he murmured loud enough so that his words reached her ears, "he's not annoying. You are."

Of all the things Sakura expected to issue from Sasuke's lips, those words were the last. _Why would Sasuke-kun say that? _she asked herself. _Perhaps, _a small part of her mind whispered in return, _because I am._

Never before had the contempt Sasuke had for her been so blatant. Or rather, Sakura supposed, never before had his scorn been so great as to break through the veiled outlook she had of the world. She sat down in shook and shook her head in a daze, trying very hard to accept this new reality. She knew she had burned too many bridges pursuing Sasuke. She had destroyed her friendship with Ino and her other friends for that very reason. He was, in fact, her only friend, not that he ever spoke to her for any reason other than to put her down, which just goes to show how sad her life was. And after all she had done, to see him treat her the way he did… _But why_, she asked herself. What had changed between Sasuke and Naruto to turn them into playmates in the here and now? The only incident involving the two had been the much gossiped about graduation fight…

_Could that be the reason? Could it be that Sasuke-kun favors Naruto because the idiot defeated him? It can't be the reason, could it? No, I remember how Sasuke-kun changed the way he looked at Naruto even during the fight. _Like most of the other genin, Sakura had not been able to follow the action in the second half of the spar-that-was-a-battle, but she had observed how the two opponents had handled themselves during the frequent passes between exchanges. Sasuke's carriage had undergone a very big change after he awakened his bloodline.

_Is that the reason then? Is it because Naruto was powerful enough to force the expression of the Sharingan? _The last question felt right, as if it were the closest to the mark. Sakura instinctively grasped that the most important idea in that question was power. Sasuke respected Naruto because Naruto was powerful and she… she, sadly, was not.

Blinking the tears that had brimmed in her eyes at Sasuke's words, Sakura took a deep breath, feeling petulant and betrayed. If she was to be teammates with these two _demons masquerading as boys _– and she did not doubt that they were monsters anymore having experienced their cruelty first hand – then she would need to be strong. She imagined, as her thoughts took a darker turn, that they would throw her to the wolves if they thought they could gain the least advantage in the fight.

With these and other dark thoughts in her mind and her chin supported by her hands clasped together over the bench, Sakura remained thus. An air of gloom hung around her and she shot ugly looks at the two boys playing/training with the chalk.

Boys being boys, Sasuke and Naruto were totally absorbed in their game and were completely oblivious to all this until Kakashi walked in.

"Yo!" Kakashi said, announcing himself, "meet me in the roof in five."

xxxx

"Do you want to become powerful ninja?" Kakashi asked them as soon as his three genin were seated.

Team 7 nodded separately as individuals. Yes, they wanted power, but for their own reasons. The jounin made silent note of their lack of unity.

"I can give you your dreams. But it'll require hard work, courage and discipline. It'll require pushing yourself beyond your limits. You'll have to learn to master yourself before you ever learn to dominate your enemy. It'll mean broken bones, and a heavy price in blood, sweat and pain. Pain and misery will become your constant companions."

Nods.

Kakashi held up his hand, knowing for certain that the genin did not understand the harshness of the training regimen.

"You're not thinking. Think and understand that the training I'll give you will be pure torture. Ask yourself if you have the necessary courage and the strength of will to become a strong shinobi of the Hidden Leaf. Only once you're sure, give me your answer."

Again, the children nodded. Immediately. Kakashi knew they did not really understand his warnings, but that was not the real requirement here. Only the fact that they agree to his training was. And that training begins now.

"So," the jounin drawled, pulling out a book to read and leaning against the rail on the roof, "let's introduce ourselves. Who wants to go first?"

Team 7 stared at the picture of the half-naked woman on the front cover of the book. After the solemn speech only a few seconds back, they were shocked at Kakashi's conduct, which was completely at odds with his words. Consequently, no one volunteered to go first and there was pin drop silence. Well, not exactly. A dark barked two blocks away and a crow cawed from its perch on one of the trees on the nearby sidewalk.

"Okay…" Kakashi said, dragging out the word after he had waited long enough. Even as he spoke, his demeanor changed dramatically. Temperature dropped precipitously and a heavy smothering feeling descended upon the three genin. Their chests felt constricted and they could feel immaterial hands crushing their hearts, squeezing the life out of them. The aura of fear was comparable to what Naruto had unleashed for that brief instant in the graduation fight, but while Naruto's had lasted but for a moment, this one showed no sign of petering out.

"You think this is a joke?" the jounin asked. How he managed to be so thoroughly intimidating while reading porn would forever more be the subject of discussion within Team 7 till the day they died.

The temperature dropped even further as Kakashi's glare intensified.

"You think being a shinobi is a game?"

Sakura's lips started to turn blue.

"Pay heed and remember this. I'm your superior and your commander, and you're my soldiers. That means, when I ask a question, you give me crisp answers. When I make a request, you scramble all over yourselves to fulfill it. When I give a command, you make as if God Himself had appeared in person before you and ordered you on a holy quest."

Team 7 nodded with all the verve they could muster in their condition. Sakura's eyes looked ready to roll in her sockets. Tears brimmed in them and she showed every indication that she wanted to clutch at her throat, but was paralyzed with fear. Sasuke and Naruto were not much better off either, their breaths coming in short gasps as their lips slowly turned blue.

Abruptly, the day brightened and the crushing aura lifted.

"Good," Kakashi said, smiling in what Team 7 would later learn was one of his defining characteristics. "Let's introduce ourselves. I'll start first."

More vigorous nods.

The jounin's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"I didn't hear, 'yes, Sensei.'"

"Yes, Sensei."

"Louder."

"Yes, Sensei!" the three chorused loudly.

"Excellent." Again, Kakashi's eyes curved again in that imitation of a grin. The genin gulped, wondering what they had done to be saddled with this psychopath.

"I'm Jounin Hatake Kakashi, your sensei and mentor. I dislike spoiled brats," he shot a meaningful glance in their direction. "My likes, you have no need to know. Same with my hobbies. My dream… ditto.

"But enough about me. You, the blond, start."

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen and training. I dislike weakness. My dream is to protect my precious people and let no harm befall them."

Kakashi made to nod, but stopped himself in the nick of time. The boy's dream was admirable. Especially so given the environment he grew up in. Perhaps there was hope for him, after all. But he could not let Naruto know that. Not so soon. Approval should be scant and only grudgingly given this early in training. In the interim, frowns, glares and frequent dress downs would do nicely. Now, if only Sasuke and Sakura had similar aspirations.

"Raven hair."

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke. I don't have any likes. I dislike a lot of things. My dream… It's to kill one man and resurrect my clan."

This time, Kakashi did not have to restrain his reaction. In fact, he put on his best frown – the one he used whenever one of his subordinates royally screwed the pooch – and stared pointedly at the Uchiha until the boy shifted his gaze to the ground. Mentally sighing, because he knew what he was about to do was akin to cauterizing a deep wound, he cleared his throat.

"That's nice," he said, "but tell me, who is this person you fear so much?"

Sasuke's head shot up lightning fast at the taunt.

"Why, you…" he growled, forgetting in that instant of anger the lesson he had been taught scarcely a minute earlier.

"Nah! Nah!" Kakashi rebuked, disappearing from his perch to appear with his kunai mere millimeters from Sasuke's left pupil. On the one hand, he was disappointed that the hotheaded Uchiha would let his emotions cloud his mind so. On the other, he had been looking for a reason to show his students how insignificant they were in the grand scheme of things. They needed to shed their juvenile arrogance to survive the ordeals ahead, after all. Unwittingly, Sasuke had given Kakashi the perfect reason for the demonstration and the jounin knew just the way to drive the nail home in the most unforgettable manner possible.

"Forgot what I said already, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke froze at the kunai and Kakashi waited a few seconds before pulling it back. For maximum shock value, he needed to effortlessly decimate the Uchiha and a kunai would give the appearance that Sasuke was enough of a threat to warrant a weapon. Standing up and harshly dragging the boy to his feet by his hair, Kakashi restored the kunai to his thigh holster and forcefully shoved the boy away.

Sasuke stumbled forward unsteadily but saved himself from a fall by planting his hands on the concrete to halt his descent. His pate felt raw where Kakashi pulled his hair, but he made scant note of it. His eyes were focused on the jounin who circled him. When Naruto and Sakura were no longer in the Uchiha's direct line of attack, Kakashi stopped and stared complacently at his charge.

"You think you can take me on?" he asked, his one visible eye half closed.

Sasuke seethed, but did nothing. He knew he had reacted badly the first time, but while attacking a superior officer may be excused once, he was sure to get cashiered and dishonorably discharged from the Ninja Corps if it happened twice.

"Good," Kakashi said, still speaking in a relaxed voice, his pose loose and neutral, "You have some sense. But you thought wrong. I won't file a complaint."

And that was all that Sasuke needed to hear. Quick as a coiled snake, he sprung at Kakashi, aiming to cut any of the great arteries in the jounin's extremities. Even in his madness, he understood after the previous exchange what little chance he had of successfully scoring a hit in Kakashi's center of mass.

There were multiple ways that Kakashi could have used to counter the attack. The objective of the lesson, however, enforced certain conditions. The most important one being that he had to make it look effortless on his part. His students had to be put into a state of shock to internalize the lesson and to keep them submissive for the next few crucial weeks while he molded the team. It would take much longer for them to learn to discipline their desires and their hatreds, but that was for the future. Right now, Sasuke and Naruto were little more than crazed animals hiding behind a thin veneer of civilization ready to be shed at the slightest provocation. Sasuke, not surprisingly, even more so than Naruto.

Kakashi leaned left and pivoted, easily controlling Sasuke's thrust by grabbing his wrist. This was yet another thing that only experience could teach you. When confronted with sharp edged weapons for the first time, people forgot that the weapon is just a tool. They invariably focus on the instrument and give the initiative to the attacking party, forgetting that any weapon is only as dangerous as the man wielding it.

Kakashi knew better. Sasuke was armed, yes, but he was shorter, younger, had less stamina, lesser reach and for all his skill at the art of mayhem, was a novice compared to the jounin, who had survived a war and was a veteran of many battles and numerous skirmishes. So Kakashi turned, pulling Sasuke with him sharply while simultaneously twisting the Uchiha's hand until it broke. The kunai that was to have been the instrument of Sasuke's doom clattered to the ground and Sasuke stared at his rapidly swelling hand open-mouthed, shock keeping him from feeling the pain for the present. His eyes were still focused on his hand when Kakashi connected with a powerful kick that broke two ribs and sent Sasuke into the embrace of unconsciousness.

"Well, that's that," he said to his other two students, pulling out his beloved book and preparing a shunshin. "We'll start training tomorrow. Training ground 4, 5AM. Don't be late or…"

xxxxx

"What do you think?"

"They'll do fine, Hokage-sama," Kakashi replied, "Sasuke and Naruto have the capacity for violence, but Sakura's a bit submissive in the face of authority. I'm sure she has plenty of aggression stored within her, which I'll strive to bring to the fore."

"How did the introduction go?"

Sarutobi had watched the whole "introduction," of course. He just wanted Kakashi's perspective on it.

"I'd decided to break someone's bones if they agreed to my regimen even before the meeting," the jounin confided, "To give them a preview of the next few weeks. Even had a team of medics on standby hidden away a couple of blocks away. Sasuke volunteered and I obliged. I'm sure he'll be fine."

"The test tomorrow?"

"I've decided to forgo it. They'll learn teamwork the hard way. With three firebrands in the team, I'll have to work them to the ground before they do, but they will."

"They're your students. Dismissed, Kakashi."

xxxxx

Author's notes:

Before you go leaping into conclusions, I wanted the graduating exam as much as you do, but after the "introduction", I thought it'd be wasted. Teamwork can be built in other ways, anyway, and Kakashi will use one of those others. I'll leave you to guess which one.

As to why Kakashi did away with the test, it's simple. After the conversation with the Hokage, he'd decided to act as if Konoha were at war. Why? Maybe because he feels the team has potential. Maybe it was the match between Naruto and Sasuke. Maybe it was the Hokage's own words. I don't think it really matters. Kakashi has decided to act this way and that's all that should matter. I'm certainly not going to launch into a two-page diatribe in the middle of the story about the whys and bore what few readers I have into abandoning the story. ROFL

Finally, thanks to Pagan Thundergod for spotting an error I'd made in training Team 7. It's now fixed.

Anyways, leave reviews if you have the time. I'd much appreciate it if you did.


	4. Training & Traitors

The Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 3: Training & Traitors

Disclaimer:

Own Naruto, I do not.

Early morning found Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura at Training Ground 4. An aura of barely restrained anger murderous in its intensity surrounded the Uchiha in a shroud, the result of yesterday's humiliation. Sensing how close he was to committing murder, both Naruto and Sakura left him alone. The former lay flat on a patch of grass and fell asleep. The latter leaned against a tree trunk and contended herself with drawing patterns on the dirt.

Time passed slowly. As the seconds ticked by, Sasuke's anger, without a natural vent to release pent up frustrations, skyrocketed to epic proportions. Ignorant of his teammate's fury and the world at large, Naruto lay snoring spread-eagled on the dew. Sakura silently fumed at their irresponsible teacher, but there was the memory of Sasuke's treatment from the day before. Hence, she reigned in her temper and kept her outward appearance the very picture of serenity. It was into this tableau that Kakashi shunshined at a few minutes past eight.

As his first act of the day, Kakashi kicked Naruto hard, rudely waking sleeping beauty from his dreams. Having gained his students' undivided attention with that one act, the jounin glared at them until they assembled before him.

"You disgust me," he spat without preamble. He'd observed them for a few minutes and their apathy disgusted him. "You had three hours in the morning. Three hours that you could have spent training or exercising or teaching each other. But what do you do?

"Pretty boy, emo-avenger there sits brooding about the ass-kicking he received yesterday. Spoiled, blond-brat here takes a nap, snoring like he has no care in the world. And pink-tress, weakling fan-girl plays with sand as if she is a toddler and the training ground her sandbox."

A pause.

"Right now, you have sunk low and can't sink any lower than you have before my eyes. You stupid brats will get yourselves killed in your first mission on the field and take me with you in the bargain. I'd be crazy to let you guard a dead rat, much less protect my back, because you incompetent imbeciles are worthless, good for nothing worms. No, you are not worms. You're worse than worms. You're the stinky shit that even a starving dog would steer away from."

Lacking self-confidence to begin with, Sakura looked a little put down at Kakashi's harsh words, but then, she sneaked a look at her teammates and saw them glaring at their teacher. Taking the cue and drawing strength from their reaction, she gave vent to the anger dammed within. Anger at the world, at her life, at her teammates and now, at her bastard of a teacher!

Kakashi caught the byplay and his lips curved into a very small smile behind his mask. So long as they saw him as the common enemy, they would cooperate. That was enough for the here and now. Once they learnt what they could achieve by working together, they would do it on their own without a foe to unite them.

"I'll give you the next three hours to prove that you're worth my time. Try hard; try very hard to impress me with your hard work and your dedication. If I so much as feel that you aren't giving me your hundred and ten percent, then you don't deserve to be genin, much less shinobi of the Konoha Ninja Corps.

"Now, follow me. We're going to run a lap around the village," he said, leading them on the run.

At the end of the three hours, Kakashi admitted to himself that he was impressed, though he didn't let the fact slip to his team. Instead, he told them to take a twenty-minute break for breakfast and assemble no later than the prescribed time for more training.

xxxxx

"Sensei," Sakura asked at the end of the first day after Kakashi dismissed Team 7.

"Yes," Kakashi replied, stopping in his tracks. He turned to face Sakura, sporting that weird little smile on his.

"Could you… I want to get strong," Sakura said hesitantly.

Kakashi nodded enthusiastically. True, Sakura didn't seem to understand that he was already helping her towards her achieving her goal, but he wasn't going to complain. He had only so much time on his hands to teach his genin and Team 7 needed to start taking the initiative if they ever wanted to become truly strong.

"You really are the smartest member of the team," he said. He pulled out three scrolls from nowhere and offered them to Sakura. "Here you go."

"Um… What're they?"

"One's a scroll on genjutsu theory. It also contains pointers on creating genjutsu. Another talks about medical theory. The last… talks about nutrition."

Sakura looked thoughtfully at the three scrolls.

"Why nutrition?" she asked finally.

"Are you questioning my judgment?" Kakashi asked in reply, narrowing his eyes. It was good that she could ask questions, but did she have the courage to stand up to him.

Sakura shook her head.

"No, no… Thanks, sensei."

Kakashi nodded gruffly, which Sakura took as her cue to make her exit. As she walked away, the jounin followed her with his eyes. He was a little disappointed that she didn't stand her ground, but that was okay. These things take time, after all. Maybe he could start a pool as to how many useless scrolls he can foist on her before she loses her temper with him!

xxxxx

The merchant's blood soaked travel papers said that he was a citizen of Rice country. He had voided his bowels at the moment of death, but there was no stink. From this and other clues, the ANBU tracker surmised that the merchant had been tortured and strangled to death less than four hours earlier. He reported this to his captain.

"It's ten hours to the nearest border," the captain observed aloud. If it were shinobi who had committed the crime, they had too big a lead to catch now.

"It wasn't any nin that did this," the tracker replied confidently. "The victim was garroted with shinobi gear, but it was done haphazardly. There were seven of them and they took the draft animals with them. The tracks point towards the western hills."

"Bandits?" the captain asked, thoughtfully. "Makes sense. Harvest has been disappointing this year, but I doubt these are first timers."

"Wasn't there an unsolved murder around these parts last year," one of the others piped up. "Come to think of it, it happened not far from here."

The captain turned to face the tracker. The team had worked together long enough to understand each other's body language, not that it would have taken a genius to figure out what was going through her mind at that moment.

"The tracks are fresh," he told her. "And they've got three mules to drag along with them."

"And they stashed the body, however messily. It was pure happenstance that we happened upon it. Would have walked right by if we didn't have Nose with us," another ANBU observed.

Nose, the tracker, shrugged. His keen sense of smell was a boon in his line of work. The fact that he could turn it off whenever he wanted to was an even bigger boon. But it wasn't his nose that had alerted him to the body. The wind had been blowing in the wrong direction for that. No, it was the carrion birds circling overhead that caught his attention and drew him to the bush.

"We'll pursue," the captain said, "and when we catch them, we'll put the fear of God in them.

"Two, radio in our position and heading."

Two nodded. The captain was right. This wasn't a border patrol and their primary mission wasn't to prevent infiltrators but to keep the peace. And letting the trail of murderers go cold was anything but.

Two and a half hours later, as ANBU manacled the genjutsu-ed bandits around her, the captain stared at the scroll in her hands. Its contents were not exactly sensitive, but it had been penned by a Konoha shinobi of chuunin rank or above and it had security seals when she first laid eyes upon it. Seals that she had since broken. The scroll's presence in the merchant's personal belongings raised quite a few interesting questions, however, despite its apparent lack of military value.

Why did a Rice country merchant have any information regarding Konoha's Armed Forces on his hands? How did he get his hands on a report submitted to the Hokage? And what was valuable about the scroll? The fact that someone wanted it implied it was, but it had nothing interesting that she could see.

xxxxx

"So here we are," Kakashi told his students, as they wound down from the morning jog, "already three days into your training. Sakura, you found the scrolls I gave you useful?"

"How come you gave her scrolls and we didn't get them?" Naruto asked indignantly before Sakura could reply to their teacher's question. If Kakashi was going to play favorites, he had better pick the correct one. Namely, Naruto himself.

"Because you and boy wonder did not ask," Kakashi replied shooting a cheeky grin at Naruto and Sasuke. He'd asked Sakura the question just so that they could have this conversation as she had strangely not shared her knowledge with her teammates. Moreover, he knew the boys were headstrong enough that they would not read the materials he gave them. It would be a different matter altogether if he enticed them into asking for the scrolls themselves and Sakura stopped hoarding her book-smarts, which was why he had to manipulate them. Why, if he maneuvered them often enough, they would start looking 'underneath the underneath.' Wheels within wheels drove the shinobi world and his trusting students took everything at face value. That simply would not do. Not if they were to ever become leaders of men.

"Well, we want them," Sasuke huffed, shooting both Sakura and Kakashi dark looks.

_That simply will not do, _Kakashi thought, sensing the hostility directed Sakura's way. The whole point of antagonizing his team was so that they could grow close to each other and unite against him, after all.

"And you shall," he shot back, his eyes curving into a smile even as he planned his next move. A moment later, the bare outline of a plan fell into place and he knew what he had to do. "Let's have a spar. The three of you against lil' old me."

Team 7 stared at the jounin. This would be their first spar as a team and all three genin had been knocked out multiple times and received other painful bodily injuries courtesy of Kakashi in the three preceding days that they thirsted for revenge. Then they looked at each other and a single thought passed through their heads. This was their chance to get back at their teacher for all the shit he'd pulled.

"The objective of this exercise is to grab this bell from my person," Kakashi continued, seemingly oblivious to the exchange between his students. Truth was, he saw the first signs of teamwork in their interaction and was all the happier for them. "Should you fail it, you'll be marching cross-country tonight. You'll be carrying a backpack and it will be loaded as I see fit."

"And if we get the bell?"

"You get to sleep under a roof tonight. That sounds fair to you?"

It wasn't, but no one in Team 7 was going to object. Not after the last three days.

"Very well. This spar is no holds barred. Come at me with intent to kill or I will kill you. You have three hours before the end of the exercise, commencing now."

Team 7 fled the clearing at Kakashi's words. The jounin tracked their tactical retreat for several hundred yards before happily turning his attention back to Icha Icha. From the looks of it, he surmised that they were actually going to sit together and come up with a plan. Maybe he wouldn't have to break bones today, after all.

xxxxx

"What do we do?" Naruto asked as he jumped trees alongside Sasuke and Sakura.

"We stock up on weapons, come up with a plan and go after the bell," Sakura replied.

Naruto made to veer off towards his home before a thought struck him.

"Where shall we rendezvous and when?"

"We're not splitting up," Sakura replied forcefully.

The two boys looked at her.

"Kakashi-sensei will pick us apart one at a time if we separate," she replied. There was a term for that kind of defeat, but it escaped her just then and even if it hadn't, she was doubtful if Naruto knew the jargon. She could explain it to him, of course, but they did not have the time for lessons now.

"What about restocking then?" Naruto asked after negotiating a particularly hard jump.

"I'll share mine," Sasuke replied.

The other two looked at him.

"The Uchiha clan armory is well stocked. I've even kept most of it in good shape."

"What about…" Sakura begun, but something in Naruto's eyes caught her attention. He shook his head in warning. She did not want to go there. Not at this point.

"Very well," she said, dropping the half-formed question. She observed the slight relaxation in Sasuke's shoulders at her action and congratulated herself for making the right decision to steer away from the treacherous waters. But it made her wonder what Naruto knew about Sasuke's family that she did not and she and made a mental note to pursue the matter further at her leisure.

xxxxx

"Here we are," Sasuke said, as he swung open the doors to what was, when his clan was still alive, the second largest armory in Konoha.

Naruto made sure to catch Sasuke's eyes before nodding once and stepped inside. Sakura bit her lips to stop herself from asking the one question she was aching to ask and followed the blonde in. From her observations so far, she was sure that Sasuke would not appreciate her questions about his clan right now. The compound gave her the creeps and she did not doubt anymore that there was something was terribly wrong with the Uchiha clan. It was not just the cobwebs on the windows of most houses and the dirt and grime everywhere that clued her in either. There had been no guards at the gates and she hadn't seen a single soul since they entered the premises. The latter was probably the weirdest thing of all. It was almost as if the whole clan was dead and gone.

In silence, the genin helped themselves to their favorite wares. A short blade mounted in plain scabbard drew Naruto's attention and he pointed it to Sasuke.

"What is it?"

"It's a chisakatana," Sasuke replied.

"Can I…"

"You want it?"

Naruto nodded.

"Take it. Its purpose is wasted in this armory."

"Thanks," Naruto said, reaching out for the blade. He lifted it in his hands and joined Sakura and Sasuke on the floor. The sword was useless in the coming fight, but he planned to take it home with him. "Now, what do we do?"

"We plan. I think we should make one probe and one all out attack," Sakura answered.

"Won't work," Sasuke replied.

"Why?"

"Knowing Kakashi-sensei, he'll probably break us during the probe. We'll have one chance and we can't afford to waste it."

"Worried about the march?" Naruto asked, grinning at Sasuke.

"As if you aren't," Sasuke replied, but there was no heat behind his words.

"What if we convince him that the main attack is the probe?"

"That would work," Sakura replied thoughtfully. "But any ideas as to how we'll do it?"

"Well…"

xxxxx

_It's been nearly two and a half hours, _Kakashi thought as he flipped another page. Either his students were going to attack soon or they were not. If the latter, he was definitely going to break a few bones when he caught the brats. He would withhold treatment and then take them on that trek, broken bones and all. Preferably through the land just north of the village wall. There was lots of brush in that rocky terrain. In the darkness, Team 7 was bound to have a few falls. With fractured limbs, it would be a painful and unforgettable lesson to never take his words in vain.

At that moment, Kakashi's vision flickered slightly. Mentally scolding himself for not trusting his students more, he put his book away and shunshined out of the clearing. No need to show the young impressionable minds how to break a genjutsu so early in the exercise. Also, he wanted to teach them the lesson that for maximum effect, you wanted to hoard the most potent weapons in your arsenal and use them only when the enemy least expected it. And in this exercise, with Sakura having upped the ante with genjutsu, knowledge about how to break one would be a powerful one.

_That must have been their probe. They had no one to pin me while applying the genjutsu, which implies they did not predict that I would run. But that's okay because they surprised me a bit as well. Hell, I'm amazed Sakura managed to get the fundamentals so fast, though I suppose I shouldn't be. She's as much a prodigy with chakra control as the other two are in their respective disciplines. But that makes two holes in their plan so far…_

_And, here we go. Looks like Sasuke and Naruto are leading and Sakura is staying behind, which is tactically sound._

As before, Sakura, who was hiding behind one of the trees that bordered the clearing, struck the first blow. She used a genjutsu that caused bright lights to flash in Kakashi's vision. Her technique was weak and for all its usefulness in battle, had several glaring holes that he could exploit. Kakashi, however, did not. It was better to let his students think that they was doing well at this point in the engagement. It would make his counterattack, when it came, all the more effective.

Even as Kakashi reeled – he did not even have to put on an act because Sakura's technique disoriented him – he noted that Naruto and Sasuke were also affected by the illusion. Naruto, it seemed, was unusually vulnerable to genjutsu. He stumbled and the jounin decided at that moment to target the blonde first.

But before Kakashi could connect with his kick, Sakura used kawarimi to replace Naruto with a log. Kakashi's kick sent the log flying into Sasuke, who dodged it by a hair's width thanks to his sharingan. The move unbalanced the Uchiha a little, however. Naruto was at least forty yards away – too far to interfere without resorting to ninjutsu, which was his greatest weakness or thrown weapons, which Kakashi could block – and the jounin knew Sakura was near the end of her reserves. So he took the opportunity as presented and body checked Sasuke as the latter came in with fists swinging.

The force of impact knocked the breath out of the Uchiha. His rude introduction to the ground broke his recently healed ribs and the hard blow to his head as it hit the compacted earth sent him into the blissful embrace of oblivion. Having incapacitated one of his opponents, Kakashi rolled with his momentum, successfully evading Naruto's shuriken. He regained his feet and flipped backwards twice to avoid more projectiles from both Naruto and Sakura, the latter having finally come out of hiding.

Sakura was the weaker of the two, but her genjutsu gave her an advantage that Naruto did not have. At once, she was the vital link that could give Naruto the edge he needed to grab the bell and she was also the weak connection that could bring him down. Naturally, Kakashi feinted an attack on Naruto. Sakura, with what must have the last erg of her chakra reserves, reinforced her genjutsu to disorient the jounin. She tottered on her feet as her last ditch effort took her to the edge of chakra exhaustion. Kakashi stumbled as he went temporarily blind and Naruto seized the opportunity with a mad rush to grab the bells that left him completely open to attack.

But Kakashi knew this would happen and having planned for just this eventuality, used kawarimi to escape Naruto. Sakura's genjutsu collapsed then even as she herself fell to her knees gasping for breath. Kakashi's carefully aimed kunai pierced her right arm just above her elbow and she screamed in agony. Naruto, who had by this point reversed momentum with skillful use of his legs and kunai, threw shuriken at his teacher and came rushing in right behind them.

Lightning fast, Kakashi's kunai flashed in the path of the shuriken and deflected the offending weapons.

Unfazed, Naruto thrust his kunai at his teacher's chest with one last burst of speed, but the teacher was ever faster than the student. There was an audible snap as Naruto's hand broke and Kakashi kicked him down. With his foot on the young Uzumaki's rear as befit a conqueror, the jounin lifted his beloved Icha Icha out of storage and began to read.

_Good thing I didn't cancel the genjutsu. Gives me an ace in the hole for tomorrow. Or maybe not… I have to teach Naruto how to counter genjutsu or he's dead meat the first time he runs into an expert on a mission._

xxxxx

The senior medic nin in the medical emergency response team pulled Kakashi to the other side of the clearing and glared at him. In the background, his two assistants attended to the assorted wounds inflicted on the genin.

"This is too much," he spoke quietly so that his voice wouldn't carry to either his assistants or their patients. "You aren't training these kids. You're torturing them."

Kakashi eyed his accuser lethargically.

"I appreciate your concern for my students," he said, "but I'll remind you they are my students. Your job is to heal them, which I can see you're very good at. Do yours and leave me to mine."

"You're being too harsh on them."

"Nonsense. They're ninja. What good are they if they cannot endure a little discomfort?"

"Broken bones and two inch deep flesh wounds are hardly little discomforts for twelve year old kids."

"I would rather they suffer these indignities by my hands than have their throats slit later."

"If that's your answer, I'm going to report this to the Hokage."

"Do as you see fit."

"I'll ask the chief medic nin to suspend support for your team."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed imperceptibly.

"You'll need authorization from the Hokage for that," he pointed out. "You won't get it. And if you try to present it as a fait accompli, I will come for you. The Hokage will even sanction it for my genin."

"This in intolerable. You can't threaten me."

"For my students, I can and I will."

"I will file a report."

Kakashi shrugged.

"As I'd already said, do as you will."

"You're being stupid. Think about your words and actions."

"Once your people are done, leave. I have to conduct an After Action Review for the exercise for my team."

The medic nin shook his head and departed.

Looking at his retreating back, Kakashi muttered, "I've had more than a decade to think back on my words and actions. Perhaps I'm doing things wrong, but I'd rather do the wrong thing than not do anything at all."

xxxxx

Sarutobi stared long and hard at the report about the dead merchant from Rice Country on his desk. It was late in the evening, but thanks to ANBU's fortuitous discovery, what had been a long day was about to get even longer.

While it was common for nations to steal academy graduation reports of competitors to keep an eye out for fresh talent, it was usually done for a whole graduating class. What alarmed him about the incident was that in this particular instance someone wanted information about a specific team of genin. That meant this was no simple fact-finding mission, which implied there was some other objective behind it. Problem was, there was not one but two promising genin in the particular team in question and if their teacher's glowing reports were to be believed, the third one was just as interesting as the other two.

Fortunately for Konoha, the gods of fortune had smiled upon her and bequeathed a favor once again in her time of need. This time, the remarkable string of coincidence that led to the merchant's death at the hands of the bandits and their subsequent capture by ANBU had also delivered a gift to Konoha's counter-intelligence that was almost too good to be true. And while Sarutobi had always been wary about gift horses, even the commander of ANBU counter-intelligence, one of the most healthily paranoid individuals in all of Konoha had been unable to smell any traps hidden within this Trojan horse.

Unfortunately, the ramifications of the report were mostly bad. It meant that one or both of the senior chuunin tutors within the academy were compromised and had been traitors for god knows how long. On the bright side, the very nature of the special document discovered on the merchant's person narrowed down the list of suspects to those two as the primary ones and their colleagues at the academy as the secondary ones. Sarutobi consoled himself that as bad as the prospect of treason in the academy was, it could have been a lot worse. If the document had gone through the normal channels, the loyalty of practically the entire shinobi administrative establishment would have come under question and that was a headache he did not want.

"Ninjato!"

The counter-intelligence bureau ANBU literally melted out of the woodwork.

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"I'm authorizing your operation. I entrust you to ensure that adequate security precautions are taken for the duration of this mission. I don't like traitors near our security archives any more than I like security leaks. Even less, in fact."

"Both the primary suspects are weak in genjutsu," Ninjato replied, "I'll put my genjutsu specialists on the security detail."

"You have carte blanche on this operation," the Hokage told him in return. "Find out who the traitor is and report to me. We'll decide what to do from there."

"It'd be wise to leave him where he is, Hokage-sama. Better a spy you know than a spy you don't."

"And where there's a spy, there'll be a ring," the Hokage replied. "I know, Ninjato. But there are things that you can't risk, like the safety and loyalty of the children at the academy. Find out who the spy's master is. If it's no one of import, you have my official sanction to arrange an accident."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

xxxxx

Author's Notes:

There, that's done.

I'm astounded by the number of reviews I've received so far. Gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling… ROFL

But anyways, the plot is a little further along now. Things are moving along nicely, if I do say myself and within the next couple of chapters, we'll see some interesting things.

Oh, do leave reviews if you like the story. No other way I'll know if I'm doing it right or wrong. I'll even get back to you, I swear.


	5. Ominous Clouds & Genin in Hospital

Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 4: Ominous Clouds & Genin in Hospital

Disclaimer:

Just borrowing Naruto for a while…

The man who abandoned his village only to found a new one stared down at the flickering shadows cast by the torch mounted directly behind him. A part of him was much captivated by the dancing shadows that played yin to light's yang. Thus, in the deep silence of his underground lair, the man considered things that were, things that are and things that will be. Finally, after many minutes of contemplation, he chose to acknowledge the one kneeling in supplication before his throne.

"Sakon."

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama," Sakon answered his master's call in a voice that brimmed with reverence, and unconditional devotion and loyalty.

"What news from Suna?"

"Yondaime Kazekage did not commit himself to the offer of alliance, master."

Orochimaru nodded. He hadn't expected the mission to accomplish anything concrete so early. The Kazekage would be the greatest fool on earth if he expressed interest to the rogue sannin's overtures so early in the game when he had so much to gain by playing his cards close to his heart.

"But…" he prompted.

"The Kazekage tried to mask it, but he is much taken by the idea. He's caught between a rock and a hard place, and we offer him the much needed hammer."

"Reasons for your conclusion?"

"Suna has been abandoned to die on the vine by their Daimyo. He has been cuckolding them for years now, but until recently, he always left enough of the pie for Suna to survive, if only as a pauper. Now, Suna's economy is showing signs of teetering on the edge of the abyss and will collapse without succor. They are left with the option to pursue several approaches that boil down to these two choices: Break the Daimyo's power or strike at Konoha, the other root cause of their current predicament.

"Until our offer of alliance, both options were tantamount to the same thing. The latter would result in a quick death in battle as opposed to a slow death by economic collapse because of the former. The Kazekage has tried for years to take the middle road and broker peace between his village and the Daimyo. He has tried unsuccessfully to impress upon his ruler, Suna's necessity to the nation's defense. His words have fallen on deaf ears so far. He knows, as do we, that the time fast approaches when his hands are tied and he is forced to act. In Suna's weakened condition, he would be a fool to strike against Konoha. Suna would be crushed. This leaves then, the other option: Removing the Daimyo."

"Yondaime Kazekage is a patriot," Orochimaru pointed out gleefully. He knew all the arguments why Suna would accept the alliance – it was his plan to get Suna to betray Konoha, after all – but he wanted to test Sakon. The young guard was not privy to the debate regarding the operation, even though he was Oto's ambassador to Suna.

"It is precisely because he is a patriot that Yondaime Kazekage has been hesitant to assassinate the Daimyo. But until our intervention, all other doors were closed to him and assassination followed by seppuku to atone for his sins was the only option that remained open. With our offer, he does not have to strip the country and his own village of their leaders. He will see reason and do as he must."

Orochimaru nodded. If there had been any uncertainty about the wisdom of choosing Sakon to command the embassy to Suna, this conversation put paid to it. Sakon, he was sure, would shape to be a good administrator in the glory days of Oto to come.

"Leave me, Sakon. You have done well," he said.

Sakon bowed to his master and exited the audience chamber, a smile on his face. He was glad that he'd read the boring report Tayuya stole from Kimimaro's desk.

Xxxxx

Frightful hate and self-centered egotism combined with an unquenchable hunger for power defined Mizuki's personality. Or so said his psych-report.

The assessment was accurate for the most part.

Mizuki was an individual more concerned with personal power than the welfare of the village. Others around him believed he was loyal to Konoha, but Mizuki was loyal to Mizuki alone and no one else. He considered those who willingly laid down their lives for "causes" fools.

And though he rarely showed it, always acting the proper, caring teacher, Mizuki could, and often did, hate with a frightening intensity. He hated a great many people within Konoha and without. He hated those who thought him weak, made him appear weak, stood in his way, or looked down upon him. Naruto had a special place on that list because Mizuki remembered how the Kyuubi's attack reduced him to a quivering, sobbing mass as a genin. His pride could not forgive the demon for that humiliation and by proxy, Naruto.

Mizuki's superiors considered him a security risk because of his flawed personality. For the longest time, they let him stew as a chuunin because of it. He had the potential to become a decent jounin, they privately admitted. But while he lacked neither ambition nor aggression, they were wary of entrusting him with the duty and responsibilities that went with the rank because of his untrustworthy nature. In the end, they decided that in a time of peace, the risks of promotion far outweighed the returns.

In fact, it was only because of a bureaucratic screw-up that Mizuki became a teacher. The concerned official took ill the week the academy requested for a new pedagogue. The sick bureaucrat's young and inexperienced assistant, lacking the security clearance to Mizuki's psych-report, assigned the recently promoted chuunin in the middle of an R&R cycle. No one realized the mistake until a week later when a concerned ANBU raised the issue with her commander, who escalated it to the highest levels. In the end, after much debate and numerous calls for Mizuki's dismissal, the Hokage overruled his advisors. He ordered increased surveillance and gave his ANBU reports permission to terminate the chuunin with prejudice if they observed him exerting a wrong influence on the students.

The spies were called off when three months went by without Mizuki doing anything suspicious. ANBU corps' mission plate was filled to bursting and there were only so many of the Hokage's most trusted assassins to carry them out.

As later events would highlight, the decision to call off the hounds was a regrettable one.

The Hokage's orders were sound on paper and he gave them only because his intuition told him the report maybe wrong. But even the most carefully honed instinct can sometimes lead one astray, which they did in this instance, proving once and for all to Sarutobi's detractors that the Professor was neither omniscient nor infallible. Apart from the political capital it cost the Third, the incident would continue to haunt him throughout the waning days of his reign. His opponents would always fallback on it as a last come about to rally their ranks and raise doubts within his.

But then, as Sarutobi himself admitted to his confidants, sometimes there was no helping these things. Trust in their subordinates was one of the key differentiators that separated the hokages from the other kages. It was even one of Konoha's biggest strengths against its enemies and competitors. After all, any structure built on suspicion works as much against itself as against its enemies and is ultimately self-defeating in the long run.

In Mizuki's case, as it was general knowledge that only the most trusted up and coming officers were even allowed near trainees, he spent the first few months gloating about his posting as well as the accompanying increase in status and was all joy and smiles. So great was his high, that it was sometime before he thought of using his position to his advantage and further his own ambition. By then, ANBU HQ had called off surveillance and Mizuki was free, a wolf in sheep's clothing to prey on innocent lambers. He used that freedom to spy on his students and reported on them for money and vague promises of power.

Until one very unlucky Rice country merchant fell into the clutches of a ruthless bunch of bandits who were really farmers by vocation, but who also had no qualms about spilling blood for a little extra cash.

xxxxx

Tonight was the happiest night of Mizuki's life. After two months of diligent work as one of the Hokage's many errand boys, his prayers were answered finally. This very night, he was alone with the vaunted scrolls of the Third with but a somnolent guard between him and the whole wide world beyond.

How did this turn of events come to be?

Earlier in the week, Mizuki had received a missive from Resources informing him that he was on temporary loan to the archiving section as part of the effort to organize the Hokage's collection. On reading his orders, the chuunin had been so taken by the possibility of getting his hands on all the techniques and intel in the library that it did not even strike him once that the assignment was an entrapment.

Suppressing the conflicting emotions – ecstasy and terror – threatening to drown his heart, Mizuki extended his arm slowly toward the Scroll of Forbidden Techniques. This action would cut the Gordian knot, he knew, which explained the shaking.

In the past, people had been killed for looking this particular scroll the wrong way and shinobi who tried to steal it were given the full royal treatment. The lucky ones were fed poison to suppress their chakra and impaled on a long stake. The unlucky ones were also fed poison to suppress their chakra but were either impaled on a short stake or crucified by tying them to a cross. Mizuki himself had seen two crucifixions himself and as the memory of those poor bastards struck him, he suppressed a shiver. He consoled himself against his fears by telling himself that it was a good thing he had the perfect plan and had been granted the right opportunity or even the rich rewards to be had by stealing the scroll would be outweighed by the threat of discovery and punishment.

Grabbing the document, Mizuki laid it on the ground alongside a miniature scroll less than two centimeters tall. His scroll had seals of a special sort used for copying text from drawn on its outer face. He bit into a bit of bark to keep the screams down, summoned a minute quantity of chakra and activated the seals. A phantom pain akin to clutching red-hot iron erupted on both hands. It lasted mere moments, but very intense. Only the fact that Mizuki knew to expect it and the extensive training he'd received on ignoring pain kept him from fainting straightaway. Still, when the deed was done, he spit out the bark and collapsed gasping on the floor. It was minutes before he mastered himself enough to stand up. He examined his palms, which were reddening already in response to the imaginary pain. Tomorrow, he would need to burn both appendages for real so that he could receive medical attention and escape suspicion, remote though that possibility was.

_But now…_ Mizuki smiled at the direction that thought led. Now, it was time to celebrate. He returned the Scroll of Forbidden Techniques to its place on the shelf and hid the bark close to the middle of the pile of thrash in the garbage bin. Finally, he picked up the miniature scroll and secured it in a hollow metal cocoon. Screwing the container shut, he swallowed it whole with a liberal glass of water. Then, he strolled out of the room, wished the guard standing outside goodnight and signed himself out for the day.

In the darkness that descended upon the room as the door closed behind Mizuki, a masked figure melted out of the wall.

"Rat, Worm has left the office. Be warned that he's carrying contraband, identified as illegal copy of Scroll of Forbidden Techniques in his person," a masculine voice muffled by the mask whispered into the air.

He paused for a few seconds to listen to the reply from the other end.

"Relax, Rat. Idiot used sealed parchment to make the copy… Yeah, that's why I called him an idiot, but I'll grant you his plan was a good one within the boundaries of his limited knowledge… Yeah, I'll file the report and inform the Captain. We need to keep a sharp eye on the treasonous bastard in the coming days lest we miss the drop."

Unknown to Mizuki, the seals that were the cornerstone of his plan could be countered with seals of a higher order that was forbidden knowledge to all but the Hokage's most trusted subordinates. Those very same seals protected the Scroll of Forbidden Techniques. The chuunin did not know but his stolen copy contained a mess of lines that meant zilch.

xxxxx

Today had started like the day before and everyday that preceded it for the past three months. Naruto woke up, finished his morning ablutions, ran across the rooftops to the training ground, and trained with Sasuke and Sakura until Kakashi showed up. It deviated from that point on with Kakashi abandoning the now almost traditional morning exercise regimen for something new.

"Today," he said, "we'll break the pattern just for the sheer randomness of it."

Kakashi's words did not fool his students for a minute. Bitter experience had taught them that the jounin did not do random. Hard toil and spilled blood had imprinted in their psyche the need to look underneath the underneath. Now, they searched for hidden motivations even in the mundane interactions of everyday life. And training with their mentor was anything but. Even the bright and friendly grin on Hatake's masked face did not lull them into a sense of security. That grin had heralded nothing but misery, fractures, contusions and whatnot in the last three months, and they knew that the pattern wasn't going to change today.

If Kakashi read the slight tightening of his students' shoulders that gave away what their faces did not, he chose to not comment on it. There were things that only experience could teach, after all and this was one of them.

"What's the plan, sensei?" Naruto asked.

"A daylong bell-grabbing exercise. It's a test of stamina, endurance, battle prowess, tactical, strategic and operational acumen, and of course, your will to survive."

A pause.

"Well, mainly, your will to survive," Kakashi added as an afterthought.

"Every day with you is a battle of survival," Sakura replied, glaring at Kakashi and meeting his eyes challengingly.

"Ah, but you're mistaken, Sakura-chan."

Sakura looked askance at Kakashi as he moved to stand on Team 7's right flank. Her teammates followed their sensei with their eyes as well, but did not break discipline otherwise. Yet another painful lesson had taught them to never take their eyes off their opponent and to never break ranks before being dismissed. They were, as Kakashi put it, "soldiers damnit and had better learn military tradition or so help me god, I'll bury your stinky, putrescent, no-good carcasses where you stand."

Kakashi smiled behind his mask at yet another important lesson successfully imparted to his students.

"You mean you're actively going to try to kill us," Naruto announced. At his words, the tightening around the shoulders disappeared on all three members of Team 7. The way they carried themselves looked and felt totally relaxed. It was as if they had not a care in the world.

Kakashi knew better. This was what he trained them for, after all. Team 7 may fool all civilians except that one in a ten thousand oddity and even most jounins, but they did not have the practice to pull one over a highly skilled veteran like him. A few years down the line, they probably would be able to, but right now, with no one else's influence to alter the personalities he'd sculpted from the base material, he could read them like an open book.

So Kakashi knew this was the calm before the storm. This was Team 7 ready, willing and straining at their leash to let loose the wrath of heaven as soon as their master pointed them to a target.

"You're right," Kakashi told Naruto, knowing that with those words, he'd set his war hounds on himself.

But Team 7 did not move. Kakashi hadn't announced the conditions for the exercise after all.

The jounin moved behind them to threaten their rear and spoke, "The rules are simple. Three against one. No holds barred. Exercise ends at sunset or if all three of you die."

Pause.

An errant breeze rustled the leaves on the crest of a nearby tree.

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu."

All hell broke loose.

xxxxx

It was fast approaching twilight and Sakura stared up at the bright blue sky partially hidden by the green tree canopy. Her parched throat hurt and it took some effort to swallow. A sparrow or something else sang in the background. She really could not tell which.

Pause.

Sakura's head rolled down. She was too weak to support it for long and she stared at her blood-encrusted hand holding her intestines from slipping out of her abdomen. She had tried what she could to heal the mortal wound and fortunately, the intestines were not perforated, but she did not have enough chakra. She was way behind Sasuke in that area, who was in turn, leagues behind Naruto.

_Which is really less than useful in this situation, _she thought to herself. Realizing that her mind was wandering, a sure sign of her worsening condition, Sakura tried to summon the last residual chakra left in her body. She grasped hold of it and reaching behind, placed her hand over the spleen. Grimacing at the effort even that little movement took, she bit her lips – she dared not cry out in pain lest she give away her position to Kakashi who really was trying to kill her – and applied herself to the arduous and painful procedure.

Forcing the spleen repeatedly to produce mature red blood cells, like she had, had a one in hundred chance of ruining the organ, but there was a chance she would slip into shock and lose consciousness without it and all the Gatorade she'd drank. And with Kakashi on the warpath till the conclusion of the exercise, she needed to be awake and in control of her mind. If the jounin happened upon her while she was passed out, there was a chance he would slit her throat the way he had been carrying on since morning. And that was going to happen over her dead body. She had wasted too much time and effort surviving Team 7's psychopath teacher and his insane training regimen to die now.

Xxxxxx

Naruto gingerly tried rotating his left wrist to see if the break was properly healed from the last skirmish as he and Sasuke hid behind two separate tree trunks, blocking Kakashi's access to Sakura. It was. He did not understand why he could heal so fast, but never before had he been more thankful for the ability than today. Without it and Sasuke's sharingan, Team 7 would have been dead ten times over. Of course, without Sakura's suicidal holding action in those first few dreadful minutes of the exercise, they may very well have died under the press of the jounin's initial assault, but she had borne the brunt of the attack and bought them the precious time they needed to survive. And now, it was up to her teammates to save her from their murderous teacher.

Naruto flashed hand signs in battle language at his warrior brother and nodded at the reply. Kakashi was not yet so close that they had to attack immediately. Naruto used the breather to check his weapons pouch and _resize _his dress. It was torn into tatters after so many hours of battle against an opponent of Hatake's caliber. He was bloody, dirty, hungry, thirsty, angry, and afraid and a whole lot of other things that he could not even put words on, but the will to fight and protect ran like an all-consuming blaze in his veins. So long as even a drop of blood flowed in them, Naruto knew, Kakashi would not touch a single hair on Sakura's or Sasuke's shoulder.

"Hold it, sensei," Naruto shouted, stepping into the open with Sasuke when Kakashi limped out of the brush towards them.

The jounin sported bloody field bandages on his left leg and right shoulder – courtesy of Sasuke and Naruto – in payback for gutting Sakura. That particular action had cost Naruto a broken rib that had since healed and a deep gash on Sasuke's right cheek, but the two deemed it fair exchange for what Kakashi did to their teammate.

"Ah, Naruto. Sasuke," Kakashi nodded at them.

Silence.

"Do not approach any further," Sasuke warned, breaking the pause.

Kakashi looked the raven-haired genin over. The boy looked much the worse for wear, but while his body may fail him yet, there was still plenty of fight left in his eyes.

"You're bleeding and at the end of your reserves," he said in his most reasonable voice. "Why do you protect her? She's a weakling who couldn't last even a handful of minutes in the fight and got knocked out early in the exercise."

"She's our teammate," Naruto replied. Then, "We mean it, sensei. Do not approach any further."

"She's a weakling," Kakashi repeated his earlier words. "And weaklings pull you down."

The air seemed to freeze as the jounin unleashed the full force of his killing intent. Never before had it felt so powerful and murderous in any exercise conducted so far. The insane desire to rend, dismember and kill was almost a physical thing. It was almost as if they were in the presence of death itself.

"Choose, boys. Sakura or your life."

Naruto reply was a massive gokakyu. He ran through the seals too fast for human eyes to follow.

At the same time, Sasuke replaced himself with a kawarimi to reappear on Kakashi's left flank. The huge ball of fire that spewed from Naruto's mouth cut off any possible avenues of escape to the right for the jounin. Most nin would have been caught flatfooted by a two-pronged attack, but the former ANBU commander was not most nin. He spotted at least three holes in the trap, but instead of using them to escape his students, he used the biggest flaw in Naruto's chosen technique to counterattack. The blonde was still inexperienced enough with the katon jutsu that he had to stand still while using it and an immobile defendant in the open is at a huge disadvantage against a mobile attacker.

So, Kakashi made a beeline for Naruto, completely ignoring Sasuke and the wall of flames closing in on his person. With one last burst of pure speed, he slipped under the inferno and penetrated Naruto's guard. Before the genin could raise his fists to defend himself, Kakashi chambered a textbook punch and slammed it into his student's chest. Fortunately, Naruto had quit the ninjutsu when he moved to block the jounin's attack and thus, escaped having his lungs burnt to cinder as had nearly happened with Sasuke during the graduation fight. Unfortunately, the force of the punch was enough that Naruto went crashing into a tree hard enough to shake it.

As Naruto thumped against the hard trunk, Sasuke's kunai struck Kakashi in the back of his thigh. The genin's aim was spot on and the kunai should have split Kakashi's femur in two, rendering him immobile and winning Team 7 a very hard fought pyrrhic victory. Only, instead of collapsing like a sack of meal, Kakashi puffed out of existence in a little cloud of smoke.

It took a moment for the realization to dawn in Sasuke's head, but he understood what happened. As soon as he became cognizant, his eyes widened as the ramifications of Kakashi's subterfuge struck him. The way to Sakura was unguarded and unprotected, with neither of her guardians in a position to intercept her killer before he got to her.

"Naruto," he shouted, "get up. Kakashi pulled a lid over our eyes and went hunting after Sakura."

Naruto groggily made to get to his feet, but his footing was unsteady. The crash had wounded him badly. Sasuke spared his teammate a glance and took off running.

"I'm going ahead to run interference. Join me fast or we're lost."

xxxxx

"So here we are," Kakashi said, not unkindly. It had taken him less time than he thought it would to find his pink-haired student in this stretch of forest, but more than enough time had passed that either Naruto or Sasuke should have blocked him. They had not. So, what was happening with those two? "Any last wishes?"

Sakura glared defiantly at the jounin. There were flies around her, attracted by all the blood, and the ground underneath was soaked with blood. She knew as he did that with her wounds, she was in no condition to fight. It must have cost her a major chunk of what little strength she had left, but she held a kunai in her free hand to defend herself. Her other hand, of course, was busy staunching the blood and keeping her intestines from slipping out.

Kakashi shrugged. It wasn't as if he'd expected Sakura to silently submit to an execution.

"For what it's worth, I'll make it quick and painless," he said and threw two shuriken aimed at her throat. In her condition, it was possible she could block one, but there was no chance in hell she could block two. With that throw, Sakura was, for all intents and purposes, a corpse.

Only, Sasuke was suddenly there. Having shunshined in, he protected her with his body, taking both shuriken in his back. The thrown weapons bit deep into his muscles. He reached behind and pulled them out, screaming in agony at the pain.

"Sasuke," Kakashi said, sounding amiable as if he were discussing the weather, "get out of the way and I'll let you live. Sakura's life is the only price I demand of Team 7 for your abysmal performance today."

"Over my dead body," Sasuke gasped out, slowly getting to his feet.

"Sasuke-kun…" Sakura whispered as she saw the cuts and scrapes and blood on him.

"Don't protect her, Sasuke. It's not worth it. Save yourself."

"Go to hell," Sasuke grated out in a stronger voice as the blinding pain receded a bit.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed.

"As you wish. You'll both die today," he said and reached for his weapons pouch.

But before he could pull out his kunai, an animalistic cry of fury erupted through the brush and a chakra, the likes of which Kakashi had felt only once, exploded to his left. Kakashi turned and Naruto came barreling in, his body shrouded in the Kyuubi's accursed chakra.

The next moment, a punch that would have killed the jounin had he not cushioned it with chakra smashed into his face and he went barreling into a bush about fifty yards away. Kakashi calmly rose up, his whole carriage screaming nonchalance, and brushed a few of specks dirt off his shoulders. Naruto faced down the jounin with ethereal red chakra blazing all around him.

"You stay away from them, you hear," Naruto said, radiating pure menace and mega-doses of killing intent. "You stay away from Sakura and Sasuke or I'll rip you to shreds."

"Excellent. You've all learned teamwork and esprit de corps. Finally," Kakashi replied calmly. His own team had failed long before this very test on a real battlefield before he learned sense, but his students did not. There would never be a tragedy like Obito in this team! "Now, Naruto, release your hold on the Kyuubi's chakra. The medics will absolutely refuse to approach this place while you're using it."

A second later, the Kyuubi's chakra gutted around Naruto as his strength failed him finally. The boy swayed on his feet and fell down, unconscious.

xxxxx

"You broke my law," the Sandaime grated, looking quiet displeased with Kakashi.

"It had to be done. They are his teammates and a secret of this magnitude would have destroyed everything I've tried so hard to build."

"You put your life in danger. Naruto did not know it himself until today. Be glad his team does not hate him. Else I would have you crucified for doing such a thing."

"I knew they would not," Kakashi said, waving aside the threat.

"You couldn't have been sure," Sarutobi said pointedly.

Kakashi smiled.

"They're my team, Hokage-sama. I was sure."

The Hokage finally relaxed and shook his head.

"You'll be the death of me," he grumbled. "I must have been insane when I gave you Team 7."

Silence.

"What did the medics say about Naruto?" the Hokage asked, switching topics.

Kakashi looked uncomfortable.

"He's lost a lot of blood and his skull was holed. If he'd been a normal kid, he'd have died instantaneously. As it is, he'll pull through."

"Have you considered what'd have happened if Naruto had died?"

Kakashi nodded.

"I have, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi stared.

"You should have been a bit less zealous, Kakashi. You actions risked the release of the Kyuubi."

"The thought did cross my mind," Kakashi agreed.

"Reflect on your actions, Kakashi. I expect you to show more forethought in the future."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Moving on, what's Sakura's prognosis?"

"The medics said she'd lost a lot of blood but she'll survive without any long term complications, Hokage-sama. They said that she'd managed to treat herself in a very imaginative way. To quote one of the doctors, she's definitely a genius in the making."

"Good."

"Team 7 will be struck in the hospital for three more days. I would like to take them on their first mission as soon as they recover."

"D-rank?" Sarutobi asked, hoping that Kakashi would see the wisdom of it.

"C-rank."

Sarutobi thought about it. Ordinarily, he would refuse, but then, after the nightmare Kakashi had put his students through, they were something else. So…

"I have an escort mission to Land of Waves in four days requested by a bridge builder named Tazuna."

"Team 7'll take that."

"Anything else?"

"No, Hokage-sama."

"Dismissed, Kakashi."

After Kakashi shunshined out, Sarutobi turned his attention to the confidential report on his desk. He'd considered assassinating Mizuki, but that wasn't really a choice. While the man had tried to steal the Scroll of Forbidden Techniques to sell to Konoha's enemies, a crime that warranted death sentence, the identify of those enemies precluded his execution. All but one of the four controls he passed information to through his merchant-spies were known associates of Orochimaru, Sarutobi's own prodigal student and S-rank criminal who hated Konoha and everything from Konoha with a passion. Orochimaru's interest in Team 7 was a big cause of concern and the Third just knew that nothing good was going to come off it.

xxxxx

Author's notes:

Hope you liked the real bell test and hope you understood the logic behind Suna's betrayal. Friendship and goodwill have a place in the world, but necessity will always supersede them.

I think I did a decent job handling the truth about the Kyuubi. LOL I also know that I needn't have spent so much time on Mizuki, but I wanted to etch out his character. He is a minor character who nevertheless plays a pivotal role in the story, after all.

Do leave reviews if you liked the story.


	6. Blood on My Hands & Rabbits in the Bush

Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 5: Blood on My Hands & Rabbits in the Bush

Disclaimer:

Borrowing Naruto. One chapter at a time.

Sitting by his bedside, Sakura stared at the sleeping form of her teammate. In the last few days, as Team 7 recuperated from their wounds, they had learned a lot about themselves. That learning paled in comparison to the knowledge they had gained about Naruto, however. It boggled her mind to think that the boy bore the essence of such a thing as the Kyuubi and had been unaware of it for all his life save the last few days. How powerful the Yondaime must have been to defeat the demon fox and how skilled he must have been at the art of sealing to build a prison to imprison it for so long without even the jailor being aware of the fact!

"We have a Jinchuuriki for a teammate," Sasuke commented from behind her, breaking the silence.

Sakura turned to regard her fellow genin.

"Don't say that," she told him. "He's your friend."

Sasuke shot Sakura a stare in return that made her feel like an idiot.

"I never said he wasn't, pinky. Question is, do you?"

Sakura glared back.

"You protected me as I lay dying. As did Naruto. You think I care he houses a demon within him? I would overlook any flaw in his character and in yours for what you two did."

"True," the Uchiha accepted, drawing a chair to sit beside her. He felt the same way himself, to tell the truth. Whatever his feelings may have been three months before, now he would do the same for his teammates.

"He almost died," Sakura said after a long silence. She reached with her hand and ran her fingers through the blonde's locks.

"We all did," Sasuke replied. "He just came closer to death than the two of us."

When Naruto crashed into the tree from the force of Kakashi's last punch, he'd banged his head against a dried up branch's stump. After the exercise while the medics were doing triage, they found a partially healed hole in the back of his head. Without the Kyuubi's healing powers, Kakashi had explained to the day before, Naruto would have died instantly from the wound.

"Thank God he didn't die," Sakura said aloud.

Sasuke nodded and turned his attention back to the peacefully sleeping blond. He had things to say but wanted Naruto to be awake when he said them.

"You look like you have something on your mind."

"Huh?" Sasuke replied eloquently, having been lost in his own thoughts. "What did you say?"

"You look like you have something on your mind."

"Yes. There are… things that I want to tell you two. I'm waiting for him to wake up."

"Well, why didn't you say so?" Sakura asked, seizing the blond by his shoulders and shaking him. "The jerk's recovered. He's just too lazy to get out of bed and face the world. Hey, Naruto, wake up. Uke wants to say something."

Sasuke glared at his teammate for bastardizing his name so.

"Pinky, what did you call me?"

"Huh?" Sakura paused trying to remember the words that had flowed out of her lips. A smile blossomed on her face when she did. "You got a nice name, Uke. Naruto, wake up."

Sasuke glared at her some more, but Sakura did not mind it. If he called her pinky, he was by God uke.

Naruto woke up at that moment.

"Wha? What, Sakura?" he yawned, sitting up.

"Uke wants to talk to us," Sakura replied, grinning broadly at Sasuke.

"Fuck you, pinky," Sasuke replied.

There was once a time when the very thought of doing it with Sasuke would have sent her into blissful oblivion, but now, after all that had happened and all they'd done together, Sakura did not even blink an eye.

"Definitely not an uke like you, Uke," she retaliated, her grin widening further. To Naruto, she said, "Are you his seme?"

Naruto, having caught on to the game, looked Sasuke up and down.

"What say, Uke? Want a ride?"

Sasuke gritted his teeth and glared at his two teammates. Seeing the beatific smiles they shot at him, he took a deep breath. This wasn't the end of it, but right now, he had more important things on his plate.

"I refuse to get distracted by this," he muttered aloud. His fists clenched as he spoke, a sure sign of his solidifying resolve. Through sheer force of will and a blind trust in his team born from the trials and tribulations of the last few months, he did what he had never done before. He bared his soul for the first time since the massacre. "The man I want to kill is my brother. I want to kill him because he murdered my whole clan in cold blood."

A pause.

"There, I said it."

Naruto nodded.

"I knew already. Old man Teuchi told me."

"And," Sakura blushed as she said this, "I learned from my aunt after our first exercise together. I was curious about the state of the Uchiha compound and wanted to find out why. I'm ashamed I never knew and never cared to find out before."

Sasuke ignored the carefully phrased apology and cast his eyes to the world outside the window.

"The Uchiha clan was the most powerful combat clan in Konoha. We had an unrivaled record of service to the village earned by rite of blood in battle. We had honor. We had respect. We were as much symbols of the village as the hokages... We had everything… I had everything. And then, in one night, my brother took it all away. He slaughtered the whole clan by himself. He killed my parents, my relatives… He killed every soul I ever knew in cold blood and made me relive their murders over and over again in my head," Sasuke confessed with a choke as he fought tears.

"The Uchiha are a forgotten footnote in history because he stole our honor. No one remembers us because we are the weak clan wiped out in a single night by a rogue. Our destruction is so shameful the academy books don't even talk about it…" Sasuke trailed off, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

"I will kill my brother. Because he stole my parents. Because he stole my clan. Because he stole our honor. Because he stole my sanity. Because he's a feckless kin-slayer and deserves to be put down like the rabid dog he is."

"Sasuke…" Sakura began, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Don't say anything," Sasuke replied. "After all we've been through I just wanted you two to know."

"Just so, we're with you, Sasuke," Naruto said in a solemn voice.

"I know," the last Uchiha replied, knowing they meant it and taking comfort in their support.

xxxxx

The next morning, as Team 7 was getting ready to be discharged, Kakashi visited them.

"I see you're all healthy," he said as he walked into the room.

"No thanks to you," Sakura muttered. The bastard had visited Team 7 but once in the three days they were laid up in the hospital and then only to narrate Naruto's story. After nearly killing them for the sake of a stupid exercise. He must have a lot of nerve to act as if nothing had happened and everything was okay.

Kakashi ignored the comment even though he heard it. If he acknowledged Sakura's words, he was constrained by law to act in certain ways. Ways that were unpleasant and would all but destroy the team he had worked so hard to build.

It wasn't as if Team 7's resentment was unwarranted, anyways. They were bound to resent him for the things he did and he did not begrudge them their hatred. For now, he could live with their bitterness so long as they did their jobs. His team was smart enough that they'll learn the wisdom of his training at the first whiff of reality outside the walls and forgive him.

Or at least, he hoped they would pardon him. There was always the possibility that his actions had destroyed any bridges between Team 7 and himself. Being smart enough to realize the wisdom of his teachings did not mean they would do the rational thing and let him off the hook, after all.

However, there was a more immediate problem to consider. If he stayed with Team 7 too long with their minds not focused on any mission, there was a chance they might give vent their anger at him. Not a good thing at all.

"We have an escort mission to protect a citizen of Wave country. We're supposed to leave today, but the client's drunk. I've used it as an excuse to delay things for a day. Meet me at the Eastern traveler's gate at 9AM sharp. Pack for a ten day mission."

"The mission…" Sakura began, but Kakashi had already shunshined out.

xxxxx

Tazuna, the bridge builder was a bastard. Not as much of one as Kakashi, Team 7 universally decided, but then, their teacher was neither a drunk nor nearly as annoying as their client. The jounin observed the discussion using battle language between his students with wry amusement, but since Tazuna had no idea what the "innocent little brats" were calling him, he let it be. He even got a few chuckles out of the deal as Naruto and Sasuke discussed in quite vivid detail, the bridge builder's supposed preference for the company of goats to fulfill his physical needs. Indeed, the boys were developing some very dirty mouths.

The mission continued in that vein, with Team 7 keeping away from Kakashi but generally enjoying themselves. All said and done, the C-rank was a walk in the park and as gay as one, until the jounin spotted a puddle in the middle of the beaten road. It was odd, especially since it hadn't rained for the last few days and Kakashi readied himself for battle. He did nothing to warn his wards, however. He would not always be there, watching their backs. It was better they walk unsuspectingly into a trap now when he was there with them then someday in the future when he wasn't.

Surprisingly, Sakura spotted the puddle as well. She straightened for a second as she came to it, but managed to recover adroitly without doing anything stupid.

_And that, _Kakashi thought to himself, _was the best you could ask of a rookie a few months out of the academy. _Good though the ninja academy was, it had the same limitations as any school. Namely, its curriculum lacked that touch of practical experience that differentiated the warriors from the wannabes. But that was okay. So long as the real training, the one given on the job, was good, the theoretical lessons imparted to the students in the academy would be a stepping stone rather than a crutch. And Kakashi had seen and experienced the results of his training regimen.

So, as he prepared to kawarimi when the bad guys sprung the inevitable ambush, Kakashi allowed himself a little giggle. He really wanted to do an evil chuckle as he'd read so many villains do in his precious Icha Icha – it fit the state of his mind better – but a chuckle doesn't quite fit the description of a porn reading, oblivious pervert as a giggle. And Hatake Kakashi, jounin mentor of Team 7, former commander of the Hokage's own personal assassin corps, was always particular about staying in character.

xxxxx

The not-so-bright and not-very-resourceful ambushers sprung the trap seconds after Kakashi stepped over the puddle. That was about the only thing they did right through the whole exercise. They went after Kakashi first – the other thing they did right – but the fools must have actually believed that they could take out a jounin with such an obvious trap.

Even sadder, they didn't even bother to check if he was really dead before they went after Team 7. To quote Kakashi from the report he submitted to the office of the Hokage, _the poor fools must have been in a hurry and may have been driven by an urgent need to attend the call of nature. _It was established official Kakashi speech for "they were a bunch of blundering incompetents who couldn't be bothered with taking the most basic precautions."

Naruto reacted admirably with instinctive use of deadly force that would have done any veteran proud. Problem was he wasn't a veteran killer. Yet. He had the instincts of one thanks to Kakashi's training – all three members of Team 7 did, in fact – but the psychological shock of the first kill was always a hard one unless you are a sociopath, which the jounin had long since concluded Naruto was not.

Reaching for his thigh holster, Naruto drew shuriken and threw them at the nearest of the two attackers even as they turned their attention to him. As per Kakashi's lessons, he did not aim for the target itself, but rather used the shuriken as an area denial weapon, restricting his opponent's freedom to maneuver. His prey thus trapped, he blurred out of sight. Charging low even as his opponent countercharged with his partner, Naruto pulled a kunai and held it crudely in his hands in a grip that could not be used for anything other than to punch stab.

With but ten feet to go, he bent his left hand and used it to brace his right and with a massive burst of chakra, launched himself at his opponent's throat, literally vanishing from sight as he did. Such a bloody-minded attack from a genin would have caught anyone by surprise. Even Kakashi had almost fallen for it the first time Naruto went for his throat, but where the jounin had reacted on pure instinct and broken the Uzumaki's arms and jaw, the enemy nin failed to even complete a block with his wrist guard. Naruto crashed into his assailant hard, his impromptu punch dagger taking the masked attacker in his throat with a sick squelching sound that heralded the rookie's first kill. The force of the impact sent both pin wheeling away with Naruto's opponent flopping the way only a dead body can.

"Meizu," the surviving nin cried out, even as Naruto and his victim rolled away. The assailant skidded to a halt, turned towards them and let out a bloodcurdling scream that cut off abruptly as Sakura kunai-whipped him.

"That went better than expected," Kakashi observed, appearing before them with his porn clutched lovingly in his hands. He flipped a page and shot his patented blinding smile – which unfortunately, was really not all that blinding - at his students. He turned to Tazuna still sporting that smile, but the humor no longer reached his eyes and the bridge builder knew true fear. "Tazuna-san, please explain why two chuunin ranked missing nin are after you."

As Tazuna narrated his story to the jounin, Sakura went to Naruto and braced his shoulders as he puked his guts out into the ground right next to his downed opponent. Sasuke, for his part, pulled out the kunai he'd used to pin Meizu's partner to the ground – the reason the man screamed so loudly – and wiped it clean while standing guard over the prisoner.

xxxxx

"So let me get this straight," Naruto said at the end of Tazuna's speech, "You knew there were assassins after you, but because you have neither money nor brains, you decided it would be better to downplay the danger involved and asked for an inadequate escort. At what point did you think that it would be better to take an inexperienced team with you into the afterlife than to die alone, shithead?"

Naruto did not bother to add how he had been forced to take a life because of the bridge builder's stupidity. It was obvious to everyone who heard his words that the real cause of his anger stemmed from that aspect of the mission rather than the actual lie.

"But you were able to handle it," Tazuna muttered undiplomatically.

Naruto heard the comment and moved to slap the drunk, but Kakashi gripped his shoulder and pulled him back.

"Restrain yourself, Naruto," the jounin said in his best command voice.

Naruto glared at Tazuna as he stepped back. The bridge builder cringed at the loathing and hatred he saw in the boy's eyes.

"I apologize for my mistakes. It's just that I saw no other way to survive the journey home. I guess some part of me didn't realize how dangerous this really was," he confessed, "I'm sorry you had to kill someone, but the path should be clear now, right? After all, you've dealt with the assassins."

"There'll be more," Kakashi replied immediately. His words got Team 7's attention like none before. "And the ones to come will be more powerful than The Demon Brothers. We might have to face jounin level opponents."

"But…" Tazuna began before Kakashi interrupted him rudely.

"Your irresponsible actions have put my whole team in danger. My thanks," the jounin said with a smile.

Team 7 stared flabbergasted, though they knew they really shouldn't be. Their sensei was the sickest bastard to ever walk the earth, after all.

"The life we've chosen is a hard one," Kakashi told his students solemnly. "Death, pain, fear, loathing, hatred, blood, sweat and betrayal are constant companions. Through Tazuna-san's thoughtless actions, you'll endure all these in this mission. As rookies, you shouldn't have to. And with any other team of genin, I would be dead set of heading back to the village right away. But you aren't any team of genin."

"Still, we're only genin," Sakura growled. "We can't fight jounin. Look at what happens whenever we spar against you."

Kakashi sighed mentally. Team 7 had lost for so many times and so badly to him that their sense of self-worth had taken a hit. In the heat of battle, they were superb, but give them time to think and by the time they entered the fight, their heads were filled with fatalistic thoughts. He had known this would be one side effect of his training, but considered it a necessary evil. Battles fought and won on the field under his watchful eyes would teach them the self-confidence to overcome the trauma of all those humiliating defeats. It was one of the reasons why he was glad for this C-rank that wasn't, though with the resources that Gatou had at his disposal, this was going to be one hard pill to swallow.

"You're my students," he told her, making eye contact with Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura one after the other. "You've survived training that ANBU would flinch away from. You're Team 7 and as members of this team, you have the honor of those who came before you to uphold. Heroes such as my teammate Obito, Yondaime-sama, Sandaime-sama and the sannin.

"Team 7 does not retreat. Come what may, we go forward and we will get the job done."

Kakashi knew he was laying it on a bit thick, but this was a motivational speech and it was okay to stretch truth a fair bit.

Sakura looked as if she wanted to say something, but closed her mouth and turned askance towards her teammates.

"You really mean it?" Sasuke asked, catching the questioning glance his pink-haired teammate shot at him.

"Mean what?"

"That part about the training you gave us."

"Sasuke," Kakashi said in the sincerest tone Team 7 had heard him use, "as a genin, I would have died under that regimen."

"Why did you do it then?" Naruto asked. His face had shed none of the paleness from before, but his eyes had lost that haunted look.

"Because Team 7 has always been the forge for Konoha's leaders. Because all three of you have the potential to be truly great, but mostly, because you made a terrible team in the beginning. There was no trust between the three of you. And no love lost. You would have broken under stress on the field. I couldn't let that happen." _Like so many other teams. Like mine._

Realization of what Kakashi had done dawned then and with that realization, Team 7 shed some of the resentment they harbored for their teacher. The jounin observed the softening in their eyes and smiled behind his mask. This mission was really a godsend.

xxxxx

The second ambush happened soon after they landed on the shores of Wave country. This time, all three genin sensed the tightly suppressed chakra of their opponent at about the same time as Kakashi. The rabbit decoy the hidden assassin used when he realized his prey were onto him fooled no one and quickly, Tazuna was pushed into the center while his protectors split into pairs facing the greenery both sides of the road.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes and eyed the undergrowth suspiciously. Now, if he was the one laying the ambush, where would he…

"Get down," the jounin shouted, discarding all thought as he sensed a muffled spike of chakra.

Sure enough, a massive zanbatou went spinning over their heads. It lodged itself into the trunk of one of the more massive roadside trees and their opponent finally revealed himself by shunshining atop it. Kakashi groaned internally as he recognized the man. It was Momochi Zabuza, one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. He signed for Team 7 to stay back and took a step forward.

"Momochi Zabuza," the Hatake greeted the assassin.

"The famed Hatake Kakashi of the Sharingan recognizes me. How nice!" the masked assassin observed in a droll voice.

"I wonder if you'd let us walk away from here without a fight."

"And miss fighting the Copy-nin? Only if you leave the drunk behind," Zabuza replied jovially. Sure, if the Konoha jounin wanted to give up his quarry, he was all for it.

"I'm afraid that's not possible," Kakashi replied in the same tone, putting himself between their client and his students, and the swordsman-assassin.

Zabuza held Kakashi's gaze and nodded. He'd thought that his opponent wanted to avoid bloodshed. But apparently, that was an attempt to warn him off.

"Guess you aren't going to walk away after all," he said, acting obtuse. Let the enemy underestimate his intelligence to their detriment.

"One of us isn't," Kakashi agreed and slipped into a stance.

For the first time since he showed himself, a flicker of anger crossed Zabuza's face. Call him vain, but he was the bloody Demon of the Mist. He wasn't going to be treated like a third-rate shinobi.

"You underestimate me, Kakashi. Better unveil your sharingan or this won't be much of a fight."

"Be that as it may, I prefer to go without it," Kakashi replied. To Team 7, he gave the only valuable warning he could before the shit hit the fan. "Zabuza's a dangerous missing nin skilled in the art of silent assassination. Be on guard."

The three genin nodded.

Zabuza unleashed his killing intent, saturating the air with his bloodlust. It was powerful enough that the genin trio would have gone catatonic even two months earlier. Now, after so many close brushes with death, the children had accepted their mortality and Zabuza's oppressive chakra, while impressive, wasn't powerful enough.

Zabuza noted the reaction of Kakashi's students and felt sufficiently intrigued. The three kids must be some genin to shrug off his psychological attack. But he was a man who knew his priorities and taking down the famous jounin came first.

Zabuza was also a big believer in deception and stealth. Accordingly, as his opening move, he used the kirigakure to raise an impenetrable screen of mist. Then, he formed several mizu bunshin and sent them to draw out Kakashi, leaving the children ripe for the plucking.

It succeeded beyond his wildest imagination, too. Kakashi foolishly separated himself from his students to meet Zabuza's first clone when it came at him sword swinging. The silver-haired jounin masterfully slipped into the clone's guard and with frightening ease, rammed a kunai into the fake missing nin. The clone fell apart and too little too late the Konoha nin realized his oversight. His desire to end the fight fast had made him careless and now, he was too far to protect his team and their client.

At the very moment Kakashi realized his error, a second Zabuza appeared within the circle between Tazuna and Team 7 with his zanbatou coiled to strike. The sword swung faster than the human eye could track and though the genin reacted instantly, it cut right through Sasuke's right hand as he jumped to avoid the cutting blow. The Uchiha lost his balance thanks to the hit and fell on his behind. He remained thus, staring at the stump as bright arterial blood fountained all over for a few seconds before his eyes rolled into his head and he fainted.

Meanwhile, Zabuza swung his sword back, catching the Uzumaki on his head with the flat of his blade. There was a sharp clang as metal hit hard head and head lost rather spectacularly in a spray of blood. The boy hit the ground spinning and lay still, his arms and legs extended at an unnatural angle with a fractured skull.

Kakashi reached Zabuza then. The look in his eyes promised murder and his actions stemmed from pure desperation. The injuries inflicted on both Naruto and Sasuke were not instantly fatal, but without immediate medical treatment, Kakashi knew there was no way they could survive the next few hours. Sasuke was a dead man walking and with such massive blunt force trauma to his head, Naruto may not survive either even with Kyuubi's help.

Problem was Zabuza had decoyed Kakashi again. Sasuke's and Naruto's murderer turned out to be a clone as well. And as Kakashi punctured its lungs with a kunai, a third Zabuza appeared behind Tazuna and knifed the old drunk in his kidney. The bridge builder opened his mouth to scream in agony, but the nature of the injury prevented it. He bled out in seconds and died thus, his mouth frozen in a rictus of agony.

The real Zabuza laughed, hidden safely in the surrounding mist as Sakura knifed the one that killed Tazuna. It was as perfect an end to a battle as he'd ever dreamed…

Zabuza screamed in agony as the world shattered before his eyes. Kakashi, with his sharingan unveiled, twisted the kunai he'd struck into the missing nin's right shoulder, the one that the sword wielder was known to favor.

"Like you said, Demon of the Mist," Kakashi whispered into the Momochi's ears, "one of us isn't going to walk away from here. But allow me to correct you, if you will. The last one standing sure as hell isn't going to be you."

"Go to hell," Zabuza whispered, his mind aghast at how badly he'd been outsmarted and outmaneuvered by his opponent. He hadn't even moved an inch after he jumped down to greet Kakashi.

Leaving the kunai struck in Zabuza's shoulder, Kakashi pulled out another to kill their would-be assassin, but his chakra sense spiked before he could. He jumped back just in time as a single senbon took Zabuza in the base of his spine. The dangerous missing nin fell dead. A second later, a Kiri hunter-nin appeared over his dead body. With a nod of acknowledgement to Kakashi, both the nin and the corpse vanished in a whirlwind of petals.

Kakashi turned to his students, eyes glazed as mild chakra depletion finally got to him. Sharingan for non-Uchiha was a cold-hearted, power hungry bitch.

"And that is why you need to learn counter Genjutsu training," he said to his students, pointedly staring at Naruto. His point made, he sought the nearest tree and collapsed against it.

Author's notes:

Please leave reviews.

The chapter doesn't feel right to me, but then, none of the chapters except the prologue do. I'll leave you, the readers, to judge it as usual.

This chapter was kind of hard to write. I knew what I wanted to do with the fight on the bridge, but this one… except the outcome of the first ambush, everything else was unplanned, though they're an integral part of the story. The future, however, is bright because the plot's still as solid as ever and I haven't deviated even a little from where I wanted to go so far.

Addendum [04/09/2009]: Someone commented sometime back that the kanji for gay "uke" and sasuke "uke" are different and that's why they don't like my story. I found it funny, which is why there's an honorable mention here. This self-proclaimed expert, this celestial genius, this amazingly snooty individual apparently forgot that often puns – especially horrible ones like "uke" thing – are like that. LOL Now, I may be wrong here, btw, but wasn't Ranma ½ full of horrible puns like this? Oh, well, can't please them all. ^_^


	7. Of Hail & Fire

Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 6: Of Hail & Fire

Disclaimer:

Since this is the year of Sasuke, I guess I'm free to use Naruto as I wish…

Zabuza, the infamous Demon of the Mist, was dead. He'd died not in the heat of battle but of blood loss from an innocuous looking stab wound and an embolism far away from any battlefield. It had taken the feared assassin painful minutes to die, pain that the Demon had to endure because his tool had ultimately proven inadequate to fulfill its sole purpose in life.

In the end, Zabuza's death was simply one of the many ignoble fates inflicted so often on soldiers. But as the hunter-nin stared at his bloodstained hands, he felt sadness and loss most profound. This was by far the biggest tragedy in a life full of it and he was sick and tired of it.

The hunter-nin knelt beside the cooling corpse for the longest time in a rage-filled silence, staring at the remnants of the latest cruelty dealt him by fate. Without either family or master, and bereft of purpose and duty, he was now truly alone. Again.

It was all because of Konoha nin.

The hunter-nin stood up, his fists clenched by his side. He was as unmindful of the plague of flies come to feast on blood and flesh as he was of the stink of death. His name was Haku, and starting with Gato, the bridge builder and the Konoha team, the world was going to pay for making Zabuza, master, teacher, companion and his sole reason for living die.

And when the blood-price was paid, he would atone for failing his duty the only way he could. A tool without a master is not a tool at all, after all.

xxxxx

"The hunter-nin was suspicious," Kakashi explained as Team 7 neared Tazuna's residence.

It was evening twilight and normally, the jounin would have called a halt, but the bridge builder insisted his house was not more than an hour away. And after the events of the day, Kakashi and the genin were all for having a sleeping roof over their head when they went to sleep at night.

"He should have burnt Zabuza's body on the spot, but he did not. What else was off about the retrieval and the assassination?" the jounin asked his team.

"The hunter-nin used senbon," Sakura pointed out.

"Hunter-nin are given extensive training with all manner of weapons and assassination methods," Naruto pointed out. He had learned that from one of the scrolls that Kakashi gave Sakura and which she lent him in turn.

"Spoken like a true scholar," Sasuke leered at Naruto. He had read that same scroll and knew that his teammate was quoting ad verbatim. The Uzumaki had started putting on academic airs soon after Kakashi started lending them field manuals and other study material.

Naruto glared at the Uchiha. He wasn't going to stand for anyone trying to steal his thunder.

"Uke, you want to shut up or should I go seme on you like you've never been seme-d before?" he asked.

"Seme with a vengeance?" Sakura pondered, tapping her lips aloud with a giggle. "I like it. Can I watch?"

"Now, now, no need to get your panties in a bunch," Kakashi said in a placating voice when Sasuke looked like he was going to blow his top at the provocation. Since the face-off with Zabuza, a great deal of the tension between Team 7 and their teacher had vanished. They had started to eye the jounin as one among them, finally, unlike before, where he was always the enemy. "We were in a middle of a discussion. Let's not stray from it, shall we?"

Sasuke grunted gruffly, but turned his attention back to the task at hand.

"Senbon are lacking as weapons go. It's much harder to kill with them even when you know what you're doing than with other weapons."

"Precisely," Kakashi agreed.

"So…" Naruto dragged out the word. His very manner hinted at deficient thought processes working overtime to solve the simple puzzle. "What exactly are you implying, sensei?"

Sasuke chuckled and Sakura giggled. Hard as Naruto might try to put on fancy airs, truth was, outside of a brawl, he was a simpleton at heart. Things that were obvious to others had to be explained to him carefully and often in great detail.

"The hunter-nin may be an imposter. Zabuza may not be dead," Kakashi replied, ignoring the byplay. "We may face Zabuza again or if not, someone else that Gato will undoubtedly hire to kill Tazuna-san."

"What Kakashi-sensei said, genius," Sasuke said, taking a dig back at Naruto.

"Fuck you," Naruto replied hotly.

Kakashi stepped in again, this time by physically restraining the blond.

"Now, Sasuke, Naruto," he said in a solemn voice. If the boys weren't going to listen, he might as well have some fun with them. "I know the two of you are as thick as uke and seme, and there's a whole world of booty waiting out there for you. And not just the manly kind. Why, if you'll only let me lend you Icha Icha – which you'll have to return or I'm disembowel you and hang you from the Hokage monument by your entrails so help me God – I will introduce you to the pleasures of the female flesh. Come, my students, can't you feel the one true way of the pervert call you?"

Team 7 stared at Kakashi and uniformly took three steps away. Sure, they'd been feeling more at ease around the sadistic psychopath after working by his side and really seeing the technician part of him on the field for the first time. They admired his skill and his know-how, but it remained that their mentor was one deranged pervert.

"Stay away, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura warned.

"Yeah, what she said," Naruto and Sasuke seconded.

Kakashi giggled. But not at them. Having had his fun at his students' expense, his attention was focused on his Icha Icha once again and he was oblivious to the looks Team 7 were giving him.

Beside them, Tazuna looked at the half-empty bottle of sake in his hands. He hadn't heard a word his escorts said since the jounin made that statement about more assassins out for his neck. Finally mastering the shakes triggered by Kakashi's words and by the memory of that half-naked assassin's killing desire, he took a big swig to steady his nerves some. It did not help him in the least.

Xxxxx

It was time.

Haku walked into Gato's headquarters in Wave after ensuring that the business magnate was present within its walls. The guards at the front gate waved Zabuza's accomplice through without a second look. They had seen the boy with the masked, sword-wielding murderer before while on Gato's personal security detail and considered him a harmless brat.

Since the late Demon of the Mist's appearance was so threatening, people they ran across classified his politely dressed sidekick as blameless. It was a mistake that most had no cause to regret. But not Gato's guards. Not today. Innocent and harmless looking though he was, Haku was a trained assassin and posed a considerable threat to those around him. The only difference between him and his infamous mentor was that he was not a natural born cold-blooded killer like his teacher. But today, having lost his master and sole purpose in life, Haku was crazed with anger and loss and was the embodiment of death and destruction.

The guards did not know it, but they would not be alive for much longer.

Haku started his killing spree with Gato. He waited nearly half an hour before he was permitted to see the business magnate, but that was all right. The late Zabuza had taught him the value of patience while on the hunt.

When it was finally time, Haku dutifully followed Gato's secretary into the latter's office. The young assassin's eyes scanned the room as soon as he entered the room. Two wannabes stood guard behind Gato, but otherwise the man was defenseless.

"What are you here for?" Gato asked disdainfully, reminding Haku that the man was a pig, his pretensions to culture to the contrary. "And where's your master? I know the bridge builder got home safe and sound. Hiring…"

Gato gurgled. A collapsed throat tends to cause difficulties to continued breathing, after all. The two wannabes started to react but by then, the secretary was dead and Haku was in their rear. A second later, they lay dead at his feet.

Afterwards, Haku went through the building as cold as efficient as any killer there ever was. Before long, every room was spotted crimson and silence reigned supreme. But not for long. A few minutes later, flames fed by oil and office stationeries reached out into the sky as the lone arsonist walked away into the night silent and unobserved.

Tomorrow, the bridge builder and Konoha nin would pay.

xxxxx

"Hey, Sasuke, a building's burning in the east."

"Wooden buildings have a tendency to burn bright when you set them on fire, Naruto," Sasuke replied, without turning towards the Uzumaki.

"I know, you dumb-ass. My night vision's gone. I can't see for shit."

"That is a concern. It leaves us vulnerable."

"Yep."

"Think we should wake up sensei?"

"Let him rest. We'll probably need him tomorrow."

"And what if someone attacks us tonight, genius? The enemy could have fired that building to degrade our vision for all we know."

"We deal with it. There's enough open space around the building that they shouldn't catch us by surprise. Still, it'd be best if you'd take my post and I yours. Your eyes are better all around and in this light, I'm mostly blind."

"Okay."

"It's not that far away. Maybe half a mile from here at most," Naruto commented as they switched places.

"So?"

"Why hasn't anyone rung the alarm? This house is in plain sight of the road leading in that general direction. We haven't seen anyone rushing to fight the fire, much less the small army you'd see in Konoha."

Sasuke thought about it.

"It is weird," he agreed.

"Yeah."

"We'll find out tomorrow morning. Probably pay the street urchins to scout it out," the raven-haired genin said, cracking his knuckles.

"Yeah. You noticed the kids, right?"

"I saw the hunger in their eyes, if that's what you mean."

"Yeah."

"Yeah. Guess we'll find out tomorrow."

xxxxx

Haku slept well that night. As someone who'd lived for years on the run from assassins and who'd also been trained in the art of war, he knew sleep was important. And so, he slept.

He woke up at six and had a hearty breakfast. After spending another hour in preparation and listening in on the whispered gossip about the fire at Gato's office, he set out for his target, the bridge builder's house at around nine.

From the intelligence provided by Gato at the start of the contract and from his own observations, Haku knew that Tazuna set out for work at precisely eight in the morning every day. From conversations he overheard on the street, he also knew that the news of the fire at Gato's headquarters had spread across Wave country like wildfire during the night. But the squat despot had managed to so completely terrorize the little island nation during his brief reign that the people were little more than cows.

As far as the late Zabuza's apprentice could tell, all the cowards who lived close to the fire had stayed within their homes, quite possibly praying to their Gods that Gato not accuse them of setting his property ablaze come sun-up. So, while the businessman was dead and burnt to a crisp, the whole of Wave ground to a petrified standstill as everyone waited for the tyrant and his gangs of thugs, rapists and murderous to descend on them like a pack of wolves on a herd of sheep. This was good news as a terrorized citizenship would make Haku's job easier.

Haku did not go directly to the bridge builder's house, however. Instead, he took a detour to the bridge to scout for information relating to enemy deployment. Sure enough, just as he had calculated, a couple of Konoha nin – his master's murderer was unfortunately one of them – stood guard over Tazuna as he oversaw the few stalwart hands who'd shone up for work that day.

_That leaves the two boys, _Haku thought to himself as he turned away from the bridge and headed towards his final destination.

Still, as his steps took him away from the partially complete edifice, a part of Haku that was still capable of emotion felt a little admiration for the bridge builder. He was a patriot and a courageous soul in his own way – perhaps the only one in his country – but the fake hunter-nin knew he would not regret killing him. He would not regret killing any of them today, innocent or not.

xxxxx

Naruto and Sasuke glared at Inari, the stupid, whiny grandson of the besotted bastard who was their client. For some reason, the brat had refused to leave their side this morning when yesterday night, he couldn't stand to be in the same room as them. Well, they'd finally asked him why and gotten their answer. It was not to their liking.

"Listen, you crybaby," Sasuke said, leaning down so that his eyes were level with the little twerp, "I don't care who you are or who you think you are. You repeat those words again in my presence, and I'll tie you up and leave you to rot on an ant nest."

"Inari, you come here," Tsunami, Inari's mom called.

Naruto looked at Sasuke and both turned to face her. Sasuke had spoken loud enough that there was doubt she had heard his words. Now, they'd probably have to hear an earful from her as well.

Meanwhile, Inari ran over to his mom as fast as his legs could carry him. After sending him into the house with a quiet word, she walked to the genin.

"You will not use that tone, those words or any similar ones with my son again," she told them.

"Your son says he's been following us around this morning so that he'll be around to see how we die when Gato comes to kill us," Sasuke replied, meeting her eye and refusing to budge an inch.

Tsunami looked distressed.

"I'm sorry. My son hasn't been himself since…" she paused, pain written in her eyes. To the two genin, it was clear she wanted to avoid that topic. "But that does not give you the right to speak to my son in that manner."

"We'll ignore your son in the future, but tell him to watch his words," Sasuke replied. He wasn't going to back down an inch. The brat deserved whatever was coming to him.

Tsunami inclined her head in a slight nod, deciding that was all the concession she was going to get and walked away.

"Uke, you talked down on her," Naruto said in amazement after Tsunami disappeared into the house.

"It's not that hard. I've seen it done when I was young," Sasuke said, looking away.

Naruto nodded and let it be. Some wounds do not heal even with time and Sasuke's family would be one that'd remain fresh till the day he died.

"Damned mist," Sasuke muttered after a few seconds of silence.

"Yeah. And damn Kakashi-sensei for leaving us standing guard over the house," Naruto agreed.

The day before, Kakashi had allowed Tazuna to convince the need to guard the bridge builder's family as well as the construction workers once the news of the midnight fire reached them. Everyone expected an assassination attempt today, but even Tazuna himself acknowledged that he was the likely target. Still, having no intel on Gato's movements, they could not disregard the possibility of a kidnapping attempt on the bridge builder's family and Hatake had been forced to concede the fact. As a result, Naruto and Sasuke were stuck with the cushy, boring assignment they so did not want by virtue of having drawn the longer straws.

"Someone's watching us," Sasuke said all of a sudden.

Naruto's forehead burrowed for a few seconds.

"I sense them. Good job."

"What do we do?"

"Call them out?"

"And meet them? What if there are two attackers and this one's the bait to draw us out while the other one goes after the family?"

"We can't be strong everywhere, Sasuke," Naruto replied.

"Quite."

"So, call them out."

"I think I wil..." Sasuke jumped to the side as icicle shards shot towards him and his partner. Naruto jumped the other way and the two ran apart but towards the house, putting distance between them.

"Tsunami-san," Naruto shouted after coming to rest near the porch. "If you can hear me, get your son, but don't leave the house. We're under attack and don't know by how many attackers."

There was a patter of running feet inside the house followed by doors and windows slamming shut.

Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other and nodded. Sasuke's sharingan flared to life. Avoiding another hail of very sharp icicles, they advanced in its general direction running. Weaving and zigzagging to present as unpredictable a target as possible, they split until they were about fifty yards apart before accelerating towards the tree line their opponent was using as a cover in a scissor movement to cut off two possible axis of escape and maneuver.

Naruto made the seals for gokakyu no jutsu and torched his sector even as he angled towards Sasuke, closely trailing behind his teammate. This left their opponent no choice but to advance towards either of them or retreat. The hidden nin chose to advance.

The unidentified nin was fast, but Sasuke was equally fast and he had the benefit of the sharingan. As a result, the actual exchange was short and only a couple of blows had been exchanged before Sasuke got into the nin's guard and kicked him away. A fraction of a second after the kick connected and the two flew apart, Naruto's kunai shot through where the enemy's previous position. If it had hit the target, which was the unidentified assailant's head, the battle would have ended then, but Sasuke's kick saved the nin.

"Where's Zabuza?" Sasuke asked, looking their opponent up and down.

It was the fake hunter-nin from before and Sasuke had no doubt that Zabuza was nearby. He highly doubted that he and Naruto could hold off both the swordsman and his pet assassin, but hopefully, they'd buy enough time for Tazuna's daughter and her brat to escape.

The hunter-nin stood up and tore off his mask. His face was contorted with fury, loss, hatred and a cacophony of other emotions. All of which were negative.

"Don't you dare speak his name, feckless scum," the boy grated. "Zabuza-sama's dead because of you."

"That's the first wonderful news I've heard all day," Sasuke goaded, flashing his best smile.

The fake hunter-nin threw his mask at Sasuke, screaming in fury. As Naruto and Sasuke watched, huge shards of ice formed spontaneously between them and Zabuza's pet without their enemy resorting to any seals and the temperature in the clearing dropped to near freezing. The shards shot forward as soon as they formed but were intercepted by another of Naruto's fireballs. Sasuke jumped high over the flames, using the fire and steam to screen his movement and came down on his opponent. He unleashed a bunch of shuriken at the nin, who jumped to avoid them and by doing so, inadvertently walked straight into Naruto's fist.

The savage punch sent the nin flying a dozen or so yards, but somehow, he managed to land on his feet. He spit a couple of teeth, glaring at his tormentors. His eyes glazed over and the temperature dropped even further.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Naruto muttered.

Sasuke had to agree. It was clear that their opponent had a bloodline that had to do with ice and temperature, and they had no intel on him, just as he had none about them. And while they had numerical superiority on their side, Sasuke's sharingan was not fully awakened and Naruto had no idea how to use his demon, whereas their opponent seemed to have complete control of his bloodline. Quite frankly, they were in over their heads, their initial success notwithstanding and it looked like they were going to get the shit beaten out of them.

The ground began to freeze over from the moisture in the air just then, making footing precarious and little shards of ice began to form in the air all over the place. Both Sasuke and Naruto knew that their opponent did not have the reserves to keep expending such high amounts of chakra for more than a minute or two before he died of chakra exhaustion. This was the good news. The bad news was that it was very much an open question whether they could survive the next two minutes.

The shards reached some critical density and exploded faster than the eye could track, sending the two genin scampering apart in radically different directions. Their reasoning was simple: the more they divided their opponent's focus, the better all around for them. The ideal course of action would have been to retreat with all due haste from the suicidal maniac trying very hard to kill them, but since that would expose Tsunami and her son to the tender mercies of the ice-wielder, they couldn't do that. The only acceptable choice was to stand their ground and defeat the enemy or die trying.

Naruto used his monstrous chakra capacity to full effect, using it to move faster than ever before. He was so fast that as he weaved in and out, advancing slowly but inevitably towards their opponent, Sasuke could not track him even with his sharingan. Naruto's raven-haired partner, on the other hand, did not have the luxury of chakra reserves that was the envy of Gods. But Sasuke had speed, which he'd gained from training with Naruto as well as the daily team exercises, and he had his sharingan. Granted, his sharingan wasn't fully developed, but with three months of high speed combat behind him, he was able to evade the innumerable ice shards shooting all around, while blocking the ones he couldn't dodge with his kunai.

Still, for all their prowess, neither of the genin could advance to arms length of their opponent. They did not even come close, in fact. Sasuke was stopped at ten yards and Naruto at roughly five. Beyond that, the slippery nature of the ground and the density of the ice shards made it deadly to advance even at the speeds they moved.

And then suddenly, after what seemed like an eternity, the rain of ice stopped as their enemy's chakra reserves finally gave and he collapsed, gasping. The boy's knees did not quite hit the ground before Naruto's kunai took him just behind his ears and the spread of shuriken Sasuke threw took him in his shoulders, chest, abdomen and nose. He died without so much as a word and his body twitched as it lay on the ground, bleeding out. The stink of shit was all-prevailing as the corpse voided its bowels.

Sasuke fell on his knees laughing like a maniac, celebrating their unexpected victory, as did Naruto. They'd cheated death and escaped by a hair's breadth, once again. They were still laughing when Tsunami and Inari dared to finally walk out of the house minutes later.

As mother and son waited nervously on the porch, Naruto rose to his feet and walked towards Sasuke. Their eyes met and their faces stretched into the biggest smiles ever. But for completely different reasons.

"Hey, Uke, guess what?"

"What, O' great genius?"

"You got three tomoe on both your eyes. Congrats."

xxxxx

Sarutobi looked at the report before him and tried to maintain a calm face for the benefit of ANBU officers standing before him. Truth was, he was angrier now than he had ever been in his life.

"I trust this is trustworthy?"

ANBU Intelligence head, Blackface nodded. As did ANBU Torture and Interrogation head, Morino Ibiki.

"We have confirmation from multiple sources," Blackface said.

"The control we kidnapped from Rice does not know the exact details, but the traffic through his station had increased dramatically in the last few months. We can't be certain about everything he said but most of it is validated by Intelligence section's reports," Ibiki concurred.

"Sleepers have started becoming active throughout Fire country. We've traced fifteen so far. We're certain to have missed more. Frankly speaking, we had no idea Suna had managed to plant even this many," Blackface added.

Sarutobi took a deep puff from his pipe and contemplated the intel they had in hand. But he did not tarry long. The facts spoke for themselves.

"To think that it had come to this," he muttered. "Is anyone else in on this conspiracy?"

"We're certain they're not directly involved. There've been no changes in their readiness status in months," Blackface replied.

"But we missed Suna, didn't we?" the third asked.

"Oto's the instigator, Hokage-sama. All indicators point towards that possibility. Suna is simply being opportunistic."

"This," Sarutobi pointed to the document in disgust, "is not opportunism. This is foolhardiness. Orochimaru is not to be trusted. I would think history's lessons had taught everyone that."

"Suna's position is untenable thanks to the Daimyo's intransigence, as you well know," Ibiki quipped, playing the devil's advocate.

Sarutobi nodded, but he knew who to blame for Suna's current problems.

"Damn all fool daimyos," the oldster cursed.

"What shall we do, Hokage-sama?" Blackface asked.

"They want to raid us during the chuunin exams?"

Both Heads nodded.

"We'll see about that," the Hokage said with narrowed eyes. "The Fire Daimyo needs to be informed of this development. Ibiki, I trust one of your subordinates will be able to handle this."

"The responsibility lies with Intelligence. My people aren't exactly diplomatic, Hokage-sama."

"You'll go," Sarutobi said, overriding the head interrogator's objection. "Immediately."

Ibiki nodded. If those were his orders, he would execute them to the best of his ability, whatever his reservations he harbored about his qualifications for he task.

"What should I convey to the Daimyo?"

"Konoha's going snake hunting."

"Suna?"

"Them, too. Give him a copy of this document and ensure that it's destroyed before your eyes once he's read it."

Ibiki nodded.

"Setup a meeting of the department heads. As of now, this information is SSS classified. The council is not to know."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Dismissed."

After the two officers left, Sarutobi secured the document in his locker and moved to the window. He contemplated the Hokage monument and the way of life they'd preached and imbibed into Konoha's soul. He remembered the numerous heroes of the past and present who'd sacrificed their lives for the village. He followed with his eyes the people on the streets below as they tackled everyday problems and carried on with their lives. Then, he considered all that he'd learnt from the report and ever so slowly, prepared his aged heart once again for war.

He had known for a long while that he'd made a horrible mistake all those years ago by permitting Orochimaru to live. The chance was at hand at last to atone for the sins of that day and he would take it. He would teach the elemental nations that Konoha caught unawares was one thing, but Konoha prepared was a completely different proposition as the shinobi wars of an earlier era had proved. He would bring down that stupid, overreaching snake and pissant, and his upstart village with him. There would no mistakes or lapses in judgment this time around and Orochimaru was going to fry.

xxxxx

Author's notes:

I wanted Naruto and Sakura to fight Zabuza and Sasuke to fight Haku on the bridge while Kakashi read porn in background, but Nugar of People Lie fame had a better idea. With it, I could tie up loose ends such as Gato as well as develop the plot in a more logical manner. Thanks, Nugar.

So, now, Sasuke's got a mature sharingan, Orochimaru's plot is exposed – this was Mizuki's role as a plot device for those who missed it – and Naruto's become a killer. I think I've accomplished a lot in one chapter, don't you? LOL

Anyways, thus ends the Wave arc. Please leave reviews.


	8. Terror & Politics

Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 7: Terror & Politics

Disclaimer:

What Kishimoto gaveth, he can always taketh away.f

"Sarutobi," Lord Watanbe, the Daimyo's closest confidant began after the pleasantries had been exchanged. "It would be best to have one of your advisors with us for this meeting."

The Third quietly rang the bell and asked his aide to call for Jounin Nara Shikaku. Officially, Lord Watanbe was in Konoha to show the flag, but the hasty nature of the unscheduled visit days after Ibiki's return from the capital meant that the stated reason to the contrary, he was in Hidden Leaf to discuss the threat posed by Suna and Oto. Furthermore, the hand-delivered missive from the Daimyo delivered by Watanbe in the morning addressed the issue, confirming the Hokage's suspicions. Consequently, the Third had wasted no time asking Konoha's resident expert on politics to clear his calendar for the day.

"The Daimyo is concerned about the raid," Watanbe said without prelude once Sarutobi introduced Shikaku.

"Damage would have been considerable had we remained unaware of the enemy's machinations for much longer. But we wised up to the conspiracy in time and we can prepare properly. Please inform the Daimyo that I have every confidence that Konoha will respond in an appropriate manner," the Hokage replied.

Lord Watanbe nodded.f

"That is good. The Daimyo will be pleased. He will, of course, leave the execution of the plan to you, but he requests that Konoha not exercise the first strike option."

"Certainly, it makes more sense to launch a pre-emptive strike if the Daimyo's concerned about damage to Konoha's infrastructure and wishes to minimize losses to his Ninja Corps," Shikaku asked.

Watanbe shot the jounin a glance that said he knew that the Nara was trying to fish for information and found such attempts unnecessary. He was in Konoha for that very reason, after all.

"It would," he replied. "But the Daimyo has in mind, shall we say, bigger fish to fry. He does not wish Konoha and Fire Country to be seen as the aggressors at this juncture."

"Ah!" Shikaku muttered. "The Great Game."

"Yes," Sarutobi nodded. To the Lord, "What does the Daimyo wish?"

"Only the impossible, of course," Watanbe replied with a wry smile. "The Daimyo would that Konoha make Orochimaru and his allies believe that we remain unaware of his plans. The actual raid must be crushed however, with minimal loss to the Ninja Corps."

"That is a tall task, indeed," Sarutobi acknowledged gravely. To lay a trap on the scale needed to crush a raiding force of over a thousand and conceal it would be all but impossible if the enemy were a fool. Against someone like Orochimaru, it required an act of God.

"But it must be done," the Daimyo's emissary and confidant insisted.

"Why?" Sarutobi asked. "I'm being asked to put the village, the civilians and my soldiers at risk. What purpose is served by this?"

Watanbe shot Shikaku a glance. They were now infringing on some very sensitive information and the less people knew, the better for all concerned.

"You may rest assured, Lord Watanbe, that Jounin Shikaku has my complete confidence."

"Yes, of course," the Lord replied, shooting an apologetic smile at the Nara. Still, he hesitated a moment as he weighed the risks involved. "What I say now is not to leave this room. There'll be war within the week if other countries were to learn of this."

"We understand," Sarutobi replied.

Watanbe nodded and cleared his throat.

"As you know, Tea country supplies Fire country with seventy per cent of our coal. The coal imports are of the highest quality and our steel industry is almost completely reliant on them. Tea country also has the strongest navy in the land. Their navy is much stronger than ours, in fact and they have forced many concessions from us in the past using their naval power as a bargaining chip. However, despite the trade, the common border we share, and the strategic synergies to be had, Tea country has been very recalcitrant towards forging closer relations with Fire country. They have, in fact, consistently refused any overture for an alliance in the military and political arena. Tea country continues to maintain close relationships with our enemies, moreover. Their intransigence, the lurking threat posed by their navy and their friendship with belligerent foreign powers has thwarted our political objectives and stayed our hand for the longest time."

"We're aware of this," Sarutobi replied, looking slightly mystified as to where Watanbe was going with his lecture. Everyone in Konoha of jounin rank and above knew about Fire's less than perfect relationship with their neighbor. One-sixth of all S-rank missions were infiltration or assassination missions within Tea country at the Daimyo's behest, after all.

Shikaku made the logical leap that the Hokage's shrewd mind refused to for some reason, however, and his eyes widened fractionally. It was a testament to the jounin's self-control that his reaction was so subdued to the thought that crossed his mind.

"Surely we aren't…"

Watanbe smiled.

"Surely, we are. The report on the Oto-Suna conspiracy said that a battalion of Oto nin – the majority of their forces for the attack – would be smuggled through Tea country…"

"It said maybe," Sarutobi corrected pedantically. The Hokage's demeanor screamed that he grasped what Watanbe had left unspoken so far and was not in the slightest amused by it. He seemed rather angry, in fact.

Watanbe did not reply to Sarutobi's rebuttal as well as his sudden change in manner, but Lord and Kage eyed each other, judging each other anew.

"Jounin Shikaku, would you please excuse us for a moment?" the Daimyo's representative requested without breaking eye contact with Sarutobi.

The Nara quietly stood up and walked outside, locking the door behind him as he did.

"Good, now we can speak frankly," Watanbe continued, after the door clicked shut, "Old friend, I know what you're thinking. You're under the mistaken believe this will not come to pass. But you are wrong. It will come to pass. In fact, it must come to pass. And at a time and place of our choosing. You've read the same intelligence reports as I and so you know that I speak the truth. This is without question the reason why I'm having a hard time reconciling your conduct now with the comrade who fought I fought beside so many years back. So, answer me this: Have you become so big a fool in your old age as to ignore truth when it stares at you in your face?"

The Hokage was silent for a moment as he framed a fitting reply of his own.

"Do you deny that this war you plan is a land grabbing operation driven by greed?" he retorted confidently. "Do you think me grown so senile that I would be swayed by your arguments without pausing to part the veil of illusion and see the truth hidden within? It is precisely because I have read the reports that I consider this warmongering."

"In answer to both your questions, I do not," Watanbe agreed in a solemn voice. "But you disappoint me. I expected you to be pragmatic and the visage I see before me is everything but. As to your final statement, I will reply to it with a question of my own. Do you deny that we face war a decade down the line?"

"No, I do not."

"Then would you rather we fight a war on two fronts with enemies at our front and on our rear? Does it not make sense to deal with one enemy at a time and defeat them in detail rather than fall prey to two enemies at once? We're simply precluding the latter possibility with this invasion."

"You aren't giving peace a chance," Sarutobi pointed out.

"Surely you jest. Or have you grown senile in your old age? No wonder the other villages gaily call Konoha a nation of tree huggers. Under your rule, I should expect the villagers to hug trees myself," Watanbe accused in a scathing voice. Then, in a reconciliatory tone, he asked, "Forgive my tone and poor choice of words, Sarutobi, but I'm having a hard time understanding the new you. What happened to the man who went by the motto 'prepare for the worst and hope for the best'? What happened to the master politician who could outdo the best of them? What happened to the brilliant and ruthless general who did his duty by his people no matter the cost to protect them from harm?"

"He grew old. He is tired. He has seen too much bloodshed and lived through too many wars," the Third replied softly.

Watanbe's eyes softened.

"Death is lighter than the feather. Duty is heavier than the mountain," he spoke kindly.

The Hokage sighed. He'd thought himself mentally prepared for war, but it looked like Orochimaru's re-emergence had affected him a whole lot more than he thought. But then, that was to be expected. He'd looked upon the boy as a son once as he had the other two sannin and had his love repaid with treachery. Betrayal by one's loved ones is never easy to deal with. Never more so than when you are old and with one foot more or less in the grave.

"In this, you have no choice, old friend," Watanbe continued in a softer tone. "This is a direct order from the Daimyo. In this, he won't be hindered. Refuse and he will make life unpleasant for you and for Konoha."

Sarutobi was silent in contemplation for the longest minute. Now that he knew the cause of his obstinacy, he could work with it to make decisions. The choice was obvious, but as Watanbe had said, the Hokage was a canny politician. That part of his mind sensed there were advantages to be had here and damned he would be if he missed a chance to milk the situation for all it was worth.

"Very well. Tell the Daimyo that it'll be as he wishes. He can have his war and I'll be his sword. In return, he has to promise me that he'll support my choice for successor."

"Sarutobi, be realistic. A person in the Daimyo's position cannot make such a commitment. Not on such a sensitive issue as this."

"I have to have his support, Seijuro. Covert will do, but I'm not averse to a little overt show of arms either."

Watanbe raised an eyebrow.

"It's that bad?"

It really wasn't, but you never could be sure when that last erg of influence can help turn the tide and win a battle. Especially since Danzo's star was on the rise and he'd been gaining prominence for some time. And while Sarutobi had nothing against the crippled ex-nin, he knew the man was a disaster in the making and could not be allowed to gain the Hokage seat.

"Danzo."

The Hokage's one word said it all to Watanbe.

"That old war hawk?" he asked, his eyebrows narrowing in concern. Danzo was loyal to the village and the country, but he was a direct man not given to subtlety, not to mention, a warmonger. He believed in peace, but with Konoha and Hi no Kuni dictating the terms. That wasn't necessarily bad given that the Daimyo wanted a war himself, but while Danzo was as brilliant as any tactician that ever walked the earth, his brilliance did not extend to politics and governance. He would win the battles on the field, run his nation into the ground simultaneously and ultimately lose the war. Not exactly what one wanted in a leader.

"Yes."

"He has wormed his way into the hearts of the council, has he? How?"

"Most of the honorable civilian councilors are attracted to him like a moth to flame. He promises them more power in the running of the village."

"They would, the poor fools. I assume he has no plans to share power?"

Sarutobi shrugged. Danzo was far more likely to execute the sycophants once they'd served his purpose than to share power with them. The man had a mindset that was best suited for the battlefield and was quite averse to the idea of power vested in incompetents. He had summarily executed samurai officers from noble clans close to the Daimyo in the wars of a previous era without regard for the political fallout for that same reason.

"Very well. I'll try to pull what strings I can with the Daimyo. But no promises."

"You get me his word that he'll support me. It needn't be a promise. But I want a guarantee that if things were to happen that would portray Danzo in a less than flattering manner, I would get unequivocal support from the Daimyo to replace the old coot."

Watanbe chuckled. Sarutobi must be very irked with his fellow nin to call him thus.

"That, I can do. But not if your opponents are as strongly entrenched as your words indicate. The Daimyo will only intervene in your favor if there's no clear winner in this political battle."

"This is acceptable."

"And Tea country?"

"Konoha will not launch a pre-emptive strike. It would help if you were present at the council of war and state clearly that the Daimyo does not want to risk war with Earth or Lightning."

"I can do that."

"That's settled then."

"Yes. By the way, the Daimyo wants you to lead the ninja detachment on the field during the invasion."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Sarutobi replied, especially since he planned on doing it anyways. After all, what better method to catch someone like Danzo than to let him think the nest was empty and he could come home to roost. "I'll call in Shikaku," the Hokage added, almost as an afterthought.

xxxxx

One look at the inside of the house had the three genin puking their guts on the floor. Kakashi was made of sterner stuff, however. He had seen worse – though not by much and even then only because of the scales involved – during his childhood war. He walked into the room and grabbed the lone survivor – a boy who could not be older than seven years old – with the thousand-yard stare. The kid did not so much as move a muscle when the jounin lifted him. Perhaps the cruelest thing the killers had done was leave the boy alive to live a sick life that wasn't, Kakashi knew. _Just like Itachi had, _a thought came unbidden into his mind as his eyes roved the bloody mess inside.

"Naruto," he said, handing the child over to the blonde genin, "take the boy outside. Put Sasuke on guard and have Sakura do what she can for him."

Naruto took one last look at the room as he walked out, memorizing the horrifying vision inside. His eyes glittered with cold fury at the butchers who'd done this and he looked ready to kill, which was not far from how Kakashi felt himself.

"Tazuna-san," Kakashi said after exiting the poor family's house, making way to the bridge builder, "I want you to take charge here. Organize them as you will, but start forming neighborhood defense squads with able-bodied men."

"As you can see," Tazuna replied, waving his hands at the dozen or so men who stood seething nearby, "we're fresh out of brave men."

Tazuna had a point, even a good one, Kakashi had to admit. The erstwhile goons of the late Gato – they had finally discovered his fully cooked, decapitated head tucked into a badly deformed metal cabinet – had committed the atrocity in a densely populated neighborhood with hundreds of families. With such numbers on their side, one would have thought they'd sent the murderers packing, but everyone had stayed hidden behind closed doors while a whole family was murdered in cold blood and even now, only a few dared show their faces outside. The jounin understood their behavior was the natural outcome of Gato's rule of terror, even if he had never been so disgusted in his life.

"You're brave and so are these men," Kakashi replied. He pointed at one of the bystanders as an example. "Look at the fire in those eyes. Can't you see the thirst for vengeance and justice there?"

The men moved forward, hearing Kakashi's words.

"Find more like them, Tazuna-san," the jounin continued fervently, "there are always men like these. And if you find none, flee this blighted land. Wave country does not deserve to exist otherwise."

Tazuna nodded and left with the men. Kakashi looked them walk away with purpose in their steps and knew there was hope yet for the people of Wave. He turned to his students to find both Sasuke and Naruto looking expectantly at him.

"Sakura, take the boy to Tazuna-san's house. See if you can find out if the boy has any surviving relatives," he said. The jounin knew he did not want to leave the damaged kid with any surviving relatives, but it never hurt to find out what his connections were before he taking him back to Konoha.

Sakura nodded but made no move to obey. Kakashi knew that if the traumatized kid wasn't around, she'd be staring a hole into her teacher following the example set by her teammates.

"Naruto, Sasuke, I want you to scout the neighborhood. Find out if anyone saw anything."

"The spineless bastards witnessed it, all right," Sasuke replied, gritting his teeth. The scene inside the house had brought back memories of that fateful night when his brother massacred the Uchiha clan. Only where his inhumanly powerful and very insane brother had been an unstoppable juggernaut, the butchers who'd done this were nothing more than weak scum. If the people in the neighborhood had banded together, the killers would have fled, but no one had. As a direct consequence of their cowardice, a third family had paid the price in as many nights.

Kakashi did not say anything in reply. This was neither the place nor the time to lecture one's students and Sasuke wouldn't listen anyway. Not on this subject, at least. Not that the jounin faulted him for being the way he was. Itachi's hands had shaped the boy's personality and his foulness would forever taint it.

"Once you've interviewed any witness who willingly comes forward, you will advance on the camp the bandits have built on the outskirts of the town. You will report to me the layout of the camp, the number of men in it, the security and other relevant observations this evening at Tazuna-san's house at 6PM sharp."

"What are you going to do?" Naruto asked.

"We're going to teach the murderers a lesson in terror. Now, leave me. I have to take care of certain things."

xxxxx

"I received word yesterday that Konoha would be dispatching an ANBU squad to deal with the law and order situation here in a more permanent manner. It'll be at least two more days before they arrive here, however. They're responding to a message I sent nearly a week back on the day Gato died and the situation wasn't this bad then," Kakashi explained once Naruto completed his verbal report on the bandit camp.

"Does that mean we'll do nothing but scout and gather intelligence?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke stopped whetting his blade and glared at Kakashi, daring him to agree with Sakura. The jounin shot the raven-haired genin a cheeky smile in return.

"No. We won't wait that long," Kakashi replied. True, there were long-term gains to be had by securing Wave's goodwill towards Konoha, but the jounin felt the same way his students did about the murders. It was good then that both political goals and his personal feelings were aligned this once. They rarely were in the life of a shinobi.

That got the attention of all three genin.

"The plan is to terrorize these feckless vermin. We will remind them that what goes around comes around."

The three predatory smiles that blossomed on the faces of his genin was all that Kakashi needed to see. Clearing his throat, he gave them explicit instructions about what he wanted done, underscoring that he did not expect the boys to carry out the last part of the plan alone by themselves. He assured all three of his genin that they were not ready for the task that lay ahead yet – most shinobi never were – and left them alone to prepare for the hunt.

xxxxx

"You sure you want to do this, uke?" Naruto whispered. "We can take turns, you know?"

It was two hours past midnight, and Naruto and Sasuke were hidden behind a tree some yards from the bandit camp. The rogues hadn't ventured into town tonight, probably because most of them had gotten stinking drunk and could not stand on their feet. If they had known they were being hunted, they would have been less lackadaisical about security, but they did not and Team 7 were about to make them pay for it.

"It would bother you to kill these bastards in cold blood," Sasuke pointed out.

"Not that much," Naruto replied, remembering the dismembered corpses and naked rape victims strangled to death or killed in any number of equally gruesome ways.

"You can desecrate the corpses?"

Naruto did not answer. He did not have to. Sasuke knew perfectly well that the blonde would not. But Sasuke could, thanks to his brother's parting curse and lesson.

"I guess I'll stand watch while you get your jollies."

"More like a duty that I'll relish," Sasuke replied without any vehemence and turned his attention back to the camp. Soon, the hunt would begin and come sunrise, yesterday's predators would learn they are today's prey.

xxxxx

"Danzo," Sarutobi said, greeting the one-armed veteran with a single nod.

Danzo entered the Hokage's house without a word followed by Koharu and Homura.

"The village," Sarutobi began once everyone was seated, "is once again at dangerous crossroads."

"We wouldn't be in this predicament if you hadn't allowed his escape," Homura accused.

"But he didn't and we are," Danzo noted. "The past is behind us and the future ahead. The present confronts us now. Will you do what needs to be done this time, Sarutobi?"

The Hokage grimaced inwardly. Frankly, the night he let Orochimaru escape was not exactly his greatest moment and the room's other three occupants had never forgiven him for letting the traitor go because of fatherly love.

"I've learned my lesson," the Third said, honestly and truthfully. Two of his opponents today were as politically experienced as he was if not as savvy, and the third just knew him. Sarutobi understood it would not do to lie to this crowd because they would catch him even before the sentence was completely out of his mouth. But there are many ways to catch fish and he knew just the lure for this bunch.

"Pre-emptive strike?" Danzo asked, taking Sarutobi's word to mean the end of discussion on that topic.

The Hokage shook his head.

"The Daimyo doesn't wish it."

"Any ulterior motives?"

"War."

"Ah," exclaimed all three elders at once.

"Can't be Rice country. Too close to Earth and Lightning," Koharu mused.

"If not the latest thorn in our side, then an older one," Homura appended thoughtfully.

"And Tea country is the biggest small nuisance of them all. Poses the greatest threat to our economy with their navy in the long run and their Lightning allies, too," Danzo added.

The three looked at the Hokage questioningly and he nodded in agreement.

"But what pretext are we going to use?" Homura asked.

"Aiding and abetting the enemy. My prodigal student's plans to smuggle his men through Tea country will be our excuse."

"It'll have to be after the fact," Danzo commented, frowning in deep thought. "Lightning will not accept anything else."

"Yes, but that's all for the future. The most pressing question is how best do we turn the raid into a trap?" Homura asked.

"And what kind of trap would best serve our long-term interests?"

"It's something to think on, anyways. Nara Shikaku is already working on the task of activating and training the reserves for the chuunin exams and after. In the meanwhile, I wanted to work on tentative tasking plans for the invasion force. I know we are supposed to leave this to our subordinates after giving them due direction, but the plans must be made in utmost secrecy. This is why I called you three today," Sarutobi said, eyeing his three fellows.

Koharu sighed and stood up to fetch some tea. It was going to be a long night.

Early next morning, as Sarutobi was seeing the three of them out, Danzo paused at the threshold and turned to his sometimes ally and oft times opponent.

"You better see about bringing your other wayward student back to the village. If there's to be a war, who knows how many lives her medical knowledge will save."

"I would if I knew where she was," Sarutobi replied, regretfully.

"Give me a couple of weeks. I'll find her for you."

The Hokage nodded. As Danzo walked away, Sarutobi reflected back to his plans for the man and shook his head. For all that the crippled ex-nin managed to irk him and the two of them were more often at odds on the political arena than not, the Hokage personally liked the old cripple. Too bad circumstances had pitted them against them against each other because of their opposing philosophies. The Third consoled himself with the thought that sometimes, sacrifices had to be made of even the best stock for the greater good. Danzo with his head full of unrealistic nonsense would surely lead the village to damnation if he were not stopped and there was only one to stop someone as determined as him.

xxxxx

He called himself Katana Katsumoto. He was one of few expert swordsmen in Gato's coterie of mercenaries, but his real claim to fame was sadism, rape, torture and murder, any of which he could do at the drop of a hat. The men knew he was an old hand and respected him for his ruthlessness as well as experience. They acknowledged his fearlessness in the face of danger and accorded him the same treatment as any of the more dangerous men in the camp. Some of them even called him boss.

But while he was all the above, Katsumoto was also an early riser. So, when Katsumoto screamed himself hoarse after waking to the sight of an exsanguinated and very decapitated head whose eyes bereft of eyelids seemed to look right into his soul, he awoke the whole camp. In other tents as well, men woke to find nine more of their neighbors slaughtered pitilessly in their sleep, terror and panic spread through the ranks of the murderous thugs like wildfire.

Thus did Gato's survivors learn that the hunt was on and they were no longer the top predators in the neighborhood.

xxxxx

Author's notes:

This chapter is a filler that sets things in place for events that happen both in the short run and the long run. The Wave mission is now truly over – I may refer to it in chapters to come, but there'll be a little time skip between this chapter and the next one – and I think I've managed a reasonable portrayal of Sasuke, the killer. I hope so, anyways.

Link to map of Naruto's world can be found on my profile. Oh and Team 7's mission on this chapter is not a filler. It will have consequences for the plot.

Please leave reviews.


	9. Snake on Steroid, Slug on the Rag

Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 8: Snake on Steroid, Slug on the Rag

Disclaimer: Naruto own I do not.

"The sealed orders and fake mission requests for the week leading up to the finals are done," Blackface reported.

Sarutobi nodded and laid down his quill.

"Please, sit down," he said.

The ANBU commander took his seat.

"ANBU squad and individual training for their missions are done," Blackface continued. "Cooperation from Root has been extraordinary. We've established communication protocols, and our people and theirs have trained extensively on interoperability."

"That's good. We're actually ahead of schedule on that front then."

"Yes, Hokage-sama. But I have reservations about keeping the regular shinobi regiments so completely in the dark. I understand some of the members are under suspicion of being compromised as well as the overriding need for secrecy, but this policy is going to have an adverse impact on our state of readiness."

"That," the Third dragged out, "cannot be helped. Surprise and secrecy are paramount to our plan. Strategic surprise certainly is, even more so than tactical element or overall effectiveness."

"Are we prepared for the casualties that the plainclothes will suffer?" Blackface asked, using the ANBU name for the regulars. "Considering the strategic objectives, shouldn't we be more sensitive to troop losses?"

"This is the best that we can do within the boundaries imposed on us from within and without… Unless you have something new to contribute," the Hokage said, shooting an expectant gaze at the department head.

"We can assign the chuunin and genin teams to civilian evacuation. The jounin can serve as the mobile security force as well as strategic reserve during the raid."

Sarutobi leaned forward looking slightly interested.

"It'll free up ANBU squads assigned to the evacuation for offensive operations," Blackface added, sensing victory in his grasp.

Sarutobi closed his eyes and thought it over. When he opened them, he had that look about him that said he had made his decision and would brook no further discussion on the matter. The Hokage's face was so stern that Blackface thought his suggestion was about to be rejected.

"We can always rewrite the SOP for evacuation and make the process work for us. It's overdue for a review, anyways," Sarutobi said, relaxing with a wry smile and a nod of acknowledgement to the ANBU commander. "All right. This is what we'll do…"

xxxxx

"You know, I think this is going to be a cinch," she said once they entered the exam hall, her eyes focused on all the genin gathered there.

"As if that was ever in doubt," Naruto replied, cracking his neck.

"The idea is to not attract attention," Sasuke muttered as he walked by his preening teammates.

Sakura pouted and Naruto shook his head, but they followed the Uchiha to the lone unoccupied corner of the room to the left of the entrance.

"Screw you, Mr. I've got a stake up my ass. Why do you have to cramp everyone's style?" Naruto said to his raven-haired teammate in a grumpy voice, leaning against the wall like Sasuke and Sakura so that he was facing the mass of genin.

Sasuke made to reply but noting Team 10 and 8 approaching their corner, kept his peace.

"We're about to have company."

"It's only the pooch and his team, and the bitch and hers," Naruto said with a grin as he crossed his arms.

Ino, who was near enough to overhear Naruto's comment, glared at the blonde.

"I heard that, jerk face."

"Really?" Naruto replied, faking surprise. "And here I was thinking you were deaf."

"Fuck you," Ino said rather vehemently. Sasuke's teammate or no, she was not going to suffer some prick calling her a bitch in silence. If it was war the blond bastard wanted, she would give him one.

"Naruto, shut up," Sakura said, taking control of the conversation before it devolved into a fight. "What do you want, Ino?"

"I came to see my Sasuke-kun," Ino replied. "It's been so long since I've seen him."

"Not long enough for me," Sasuke said off-handedly.

Naruto chuckled.

"So, what have you guys been up to?" he asked the others.

"Training and missions," Kiba replied in everyone's stead. "I bet I can kick your ass now."

Naruto snorted and made to reply but sighting a new arrival, controlled himself.

"And who are you?" he asked the spectacle wearing older genin sporting a Konoha headband.

The new arrival smiled disarmingly.

"I'm Yakushi Kabuto. I came to give you guys some advice."

Naruto scratched his head at the name.

"Are we supposed to know you?"

"No," Kabuto replied, "but I've attended these exams several times before and there are a lot of dangerous folks here. You would do better to not attract attention to yourselves."

Sasuke chuckled at the words.

"Must be a veteran loser then," he said in a patronizing voice laced with disgust, "Team 7 doesn't need your advice. Now go over to your little corner and keep a lookout for the dangerous kids. They might hurt you."

"I can help you," Kabuto replied, his friendly smile fading a little. "I have collected information on all the examinees and am prepared to share them with you since we're all from the same village."

"You'll share information just like that?" Naruto asked, suspiciously. It was either that this Kabuto was an incompetent or he had a hidden agenda. In both cases, especially in the latter, Naruto was sure he did not want Team 7 to be involved with him.

And apparently, so did Sasuke.

"We don't want your information," Sasuke gritted out, "get lost."

"Wait a minute, Kabuto-san," Sakura interrupted. She shot a glance at her teammates that quelled the protests forming in their lips. "You say that you have information on everyone gathered here?"

"That's correct."

"Tell us about yourself then."

"Myself?"

"Yes. Your strengths and weaknesses... Things like that."

Kabuto smiled and spread his arms.

"Surely, you don't want to know about me," he said affably.

"But we do," Sakura replied. "We want to know why you'd failed the chuunin exams several times before."

"I fail to see how that is pertinent to this conversation," Kabuto answered, the friendly smile plastered on his face fading a little.

"You're our opponent, Kabuto-san," Sakura pointed out, "We were taught that you learn more from failures than from success."

"None of the other teams have approached any of us offering help," Shikamaru added, eyeing the elder genin curiously. Now that Sakura had drawn attention to the discrepancies, his suspicions were aroused as well. Why on earth would anyone taking part in the exam want to help others when every little advantage you and your team had in your hands could mean the difference between pass or fail? "Are you setting yourself up to fail the exam?"

"No," Kabuto answered, slowly. He was supposed to awe the genin with his knowledge and gain their confidence, but Team 7 had derailed his plans. The other genin were nothing special and he could have fooled them any time he wanted, though as expected, the Nara was smart as all hell. But brains did not mean anything if you were too lazy to use it most of the time and the other genin weren't really his target. His quarry was the Uchiha heir, but it looked like Kakashi had trained his team too well to be had by so shallow a trap.

"But you will if you share information about yourself," Sakura pointed out.

"Obviously, I can't tell you information about myself."

"Then you'll share information about the other genin examinees."

"Precisely."

"But we don't know anyone," Shikamaru mused. "Why don't you tell us who we should watch out for? And throw in their strengths and weaknesses for good measure."

The easiest way out of this mess would have been to share the information Shikamaru asked, but Kabuto knew that would only have landed him in another one. To give the Nara and the gathered genin the answer was to undermine his own team in the exams, which would have raised some rather unwanted questions. So, he kept quiet.

"I thought so. You aren't here to help us but to undermine us," Sasuke accused aloud, breaking the silence after it dragged for several seconds, "we don't want you around. Get lost."

And Kabuto did. His mission was a failure, but that was okay. He was sure Team 7 would pass the written test and there was no avoiding the trap in the Forest of Death.

xxxxx

The woman watched the third ship of the day set sail from the harbor and made a mental note of it. Filing away the information, she turned away from the window and turned to stare at the middle-aged soldier sleeping naked on her bed. She had targeted him for months now and only the night before, before allowing him to seduce her, she had confirmed that he was one of the senior officers of the naval base's security detachment. That was good. She had more than a month to work her magic on him and he would be putty in her hands long before that. And when the time came, she would do her part and he would become an instrument of Tea country's undoing. Naval power is useless when the ships are moored on port and on land, after all.

xxxxx

Team 7 did not sense the Kusa nin until the latter revealed herself to them. It was enough to give them pause. In the two months since the mission to Wave, all three genin had improved by leaps and bounds. They had learnt that it took talent – Kakashi could do it seven times out of ten, for example – to fool them on the field.

"Who are you?" Sakura asked, even as she moved wide to take the Kusa nin on her left flank. Sasuke followed his teammate's lead by moving to take the genin from her right, leaving Naruto to protect the center.

The Kusa nin shot a creepy smile and unleashed a killing intent that was more powerful than anything Team 7 had experienced by at least an order of magnitude. It was testament to the kunoichi's strength that her desire to rend and dismember stopped them in their tracks for several seconds, something that none of their opponents had managed on the field so far. Clearly, this was no ordinary genin.

"Can the hunted question the hunter?" the kunoichi asked in a voice that was even creepier than her smile.

Sakura's grip on her kunai tightened before she willed herself to relax. The worst that could happen here was that she and her teammates would die. But the Kusa nin's team had to be worried about passing this phase of the exam as well and it made sense to prey on the weak or the weakened rather than the strong, which Team 7 were.

"A challenge for your Heaven scroll," the Kusa genin continued. She rolled out her tongue, which would have made Naruto's and Sasuke's thoughts take off in another direction any other day, swallowed her Earth scroll and said, "You can have mine. If you defeat me."

Naruto took a step forward and the kunoichi unleashed a powerful daitoppa at him and Sakura, never once taking her eyes off Sasuke. Naruto and Sakura weathered the windblast by holding on to the branches they were perched on with chakra.

"Lady, with a tongue like that, you can blow me anytime," Naruto shouted once the howling wind died.

As inappropriate as the comment was, it was exactly the right thing to say as it informed his teammates that frightening though their opponent was, it was still business as usual. Without any outward signal, Team 7 then jogged forward as one on different vectors that would have them fall upon their opponent in a staggered manner. The Kusa nin smiled at their tactics and stood her ground. The slight shift in her stance was the only evidence that she even acknowledged Team 7's attack.

Naruto reached the kunoichi first. Even as he drove in his first probing strike to test the other genin's defenses, Sasuke jumped high into the air. Paying scant attention, the Kusa nin blocked the blonde's blow casually, but her training betrayed her. As she defended against Naruto, she looked towards Sasuke, her eyes automatically focusing on his sudden high-speed movement. Their eyes met and she became ensnared in his genjutsu. Almost simultaneously, Sakura unleashed her own genjutsu – much stronger and far harder to break than her attempts less than six months back – and the Kusa nin staggered. At that moment, Naruto's kunai caught her carotids and she dissolved into mud.

Naruto spun without a pause, lashing out with a high kick. The Kusa nin blocked it and punched him away with a hard hit just over his solar plexus that would have shattered his rib cage if he hadn't used a kawarim in time to escape it. Sasuke's housenka fried the Kusa nin as the blonde made his escape, but like his teammate before, the raven-haired genin wasn't fooled. He threw kunai glued with explosive tags at a nearest tree to his left even as the now molten mud clone settled into the ground before him.

The explosion shattered the tree trunk, sending splinters everywhere. The tree tumbled as gravity exerted its iron will. The ground shuddered at the crash.

"Very good," the Kusa nin said in an amused voice. Before she could continue her speech further, Sakura's thrown kunai took her in her forehead.

"It's not nice to interrupt one before one's done speaking," a slightly less amused voice whispered into Sakura's ears just before a kick that was powerful enough to crush boulders slammed into her.

"And your voice is irritating," Sakura replied from behind the kunoichi after ramming her kunai into the base of the latter's skull.

The Kusa nin crumbled into mud again. The real one stepped out from behind a tree, a rueful expression on her face. Her lower part of her left earlobe was a mess and blood dripped into her shoulders.

"For mere genin to cut me without my intending it… Kakashi has outdone himself," the kunoichi said.

Her words gave Team 7 pause. The encounter so far had shown them that the enemy was extraordinarily powerful for a genin. She was possibly on the same level as Kakashi in terms of skill and power, if not higher. And that alone was freaky enough.

But to have her talk of their sensei as if she knew him personally… That went beyond weird. In fact, it struck terror in their hearts.

A genin from another village, no matter how skilled, could not have known about Kakashi. The only other option was that the kunoichi was in fact an older, higher ranked nin masquerading as a lowly genin who'd managed to smuggle herself with ease into an exam administered by watchful chuunin and jounin, and guarded by ANBU. The kind of skill involved in the act was mindboggling, but the idea that such a shinobi had chosen to target them – and there was no doubt in their minds as soon as they heard the kunoichi's words that they were the sole purpose the Kusa nin was even in the forest – was at once heart-stopping and exhilarating. Never more would Team 7 doubt their place among the best of the best after this battle.

The kunoichi grinned, reading the looks pasted on the three genin.

"Let the exam begin in all earnest," she said and moved.

The Kusa nin struck first. Summoning snakes, she sent them at Sasuke and Sakura, and laid into Naruto as if she were the devil herself. The blonde matched the insane pace she set for all of five seconds before she launched a punch from an impossible angle. For all his genius at taijutsu, the genin could only goggle at the strike even as the hit connected with the force of a pile driver against his solar plexus. He flew back through the air, and lay gasping and retching on the forest floor after pin wheeling several times. The blow also put him out of the fight for the next minute or so, as the kunoichi had intended. After all, no amount of ungodly healing and determination can help you if you cannot breath.

With Naruto on the ground, the Kusa nin turned to Sasuke and Sakura. They attacked her ferociously, but individually, Team 7 was nowhere near the Kusa nin in skill. It was only their teamwork that gave them any chance at all and with one of their own knocked out of the equation, the other two were as bowling pins on a bowling lane. The kunoichi knocked them down at will, shrugging everything they threw as if it were all nothing. Of course, Sasuke and Sakura fought like demons, but their opponent might as well have been a mountain for all the luck they had.

Finally, when all hope seemed lost, with both genin on the ground and the Kusa nin standing over them with a satisfied look on her face, a huge blast of fire struck her from the back. The heat was enough to singe both genin's' hair, make their clothes smolder and set the treetops on fire. There was no way that the kunoichi should have anticipated it – it caught Sasuke and Sakura completely by surprise – but anticipate she did, underlining once again how big the gap in skills really was.

So, even as the earth clone crumbled before them and Naruto collapsed on his knees gasping for breath, the Kusa nin stepped out of a tree chuckling, amusement writ on her face.

"Such determination. Such skill. Such power," she observed rhetorically. To Team 7 in general and Sasuke in particular, she said, "Sasuke-kun, I came to test the power of the Uchiha clan and truly, your eyes possess greater potential than Itachi's.

"I shouldn't be surprised that you are every inch the genius they said you are, but your teammates are treasures as well. Too bad I had prepared to apply the seal on only one person."

The kunoichi sounded almost wistful as she looked at the three genin.

"It'll have to do, I suppose," she said and her face broke into a wide smile. Paralyzing them again with an even stronger burst of killing intent than before, she elongated her neck and bit Sasuke.

The Uchiha stood his ground for several seconds, gritting his teeth to fight the pain and then fell down with a hiss, clutching the nape of his neck in agony. The Kusa nin watched him dispassionately as he writhed on the ground and turned to his paralyzed teammates.

"Your eyes thirst for power," she told them. "I can give it to you. More than you dreamt possible. If Sasuke survives the bite, he'll bear my mark forever and it will give him a taste of real power. And when it's time, he'll come to me to gain more. You'll come with him to join me as well because only I can give you the strength to crush your foes and quench your thirst.

"I'm Orochimaru and you three are mine till the end of eternity."

xxxxx

"I cannot tell you how delighted I was to hear that Orochimaru smuggled himself into the exam," the Hokage said, sounding as if he were discussing the weather.

The penultimate round of the chuunin exams had ended less than half an hour earlier. The victorious genin had left to celebrate their success and prepare for the finals to be held a month in the future. The atmosphere among the various ANBU heads and the lone jounin gathered within the hall was very somber, however. Sarutobi had known about Orochimaru's successful infiltration into the chuunin exams for three days now. In fact, he hadn't spoken a single word about the embarrassing incident much to the relief of the ANBU captains. His opening words today told the men and women gathered in the room all they needed to know, however, especially since he, a stickler for proper timings, skipped explanations for the delay in starting the meeting. If they knew the man, and they knew him, the Third had used the three days to work himself into a royal fury on the subject of his treasonous student.

"How," Sarutobi ground out, "do you imbeciles excuse the breach in security when ANBU are on red alert?"

No one answered. Ibiki and Kakashi kept their faces completely immobile without a hint of emotion. The ANBU may or may not have – it was impossible to tell with their masks – but from their rock steady postures, it was clear that they were as full of trepidation as the barefaced shinobi were.

All the active nin present in the room had known the Hokage in such a frame of mind only once. Right after the attempted kidnapping of Naruto, Sarutobi had called his people together and spoken to them in a similar manner. The jounin who'd been in charge of security in that sector and whom the Hokage held personally responsible for the attempt had lost his head that day. And the very next, a dozen shinobi and civilians followed with theirs. It was literally life or death now as it had been then, and the men and women in the room knew it.

Behind Sarutobi, Homura and Koharu locked gazes with Danzo and nodded. This was the Sarutobi they knew. This was the coldblooded, analytical killer and master tactician who'd led Konoha to victories in the wars of a long gone era. This was the Hokage Konoha needed with carrion-eaters sniffing at the door and finally, they'd got him. There would certainly be no pussyfooting anymore. Let the other villages call Konoha a bunch of tree huggers henceforth if they dared.

"What I want done is this," Sarutobi continued on the same vein, outlining the actions he wanted taken. As he spoke, his subordinates visibly relaxed and jotted down points on issues relating to their duties. If heads rolled today, it would only be in the figurative sense and that was a whole sight better than losing it literally.

"Kakashi," the third said once he was done, "you wanted to say something."

Kakashi nodded and approached the center of the room. Normally, a jounin wouldn't be allowed to attend a meeting between ANBU heads and the Hokage, but Hatake had once been an ANBU commander himself. And while he was no longer on the active lists, he maintained close ties with the ANBU community offering them advice and generally acting as a consultant. Still, even he had been surprised by most of the things today. No wonder that the guards allowed him entry only after consulting their superiors and denied it to someone as trusted as Asuma. So, it took a couple of seconds to organize his thoughts.

"As you are aware," the jounin told the ANBU, "Sasuke has been given one of Orochimaru's curse seals. What you may not know is that Orochimaru has offered to give succor to Team 7 should they ever become nukenin."

There were a few murmurs at the news. The few ANBU who were in the know kept their counsel to themselves, however. For his part, Kakashi allowed the murmurs to die down naturally before continuing his report.

"My students and Asuma's have brought to our attention suspicious behavior on the part of one of the Konoha genin who participated in it. His name's Yakushi Kabuto. I've looked at his records and that of his team. This is the sixth time this Kabuto had attended the genin exam. His records indicate he advanced to a certain level and then gave up on all six of them."

There were more murmurs. While it was possible that the genin was a loser without ambition, it was just as likely he failed the exams because advancing further in the ranks would put him under closer scrutiny that would reveal things of an unpleasant nature, like treason. This time, Ibiki and the counter-intelligence head, the only two people in the room other than the Hokage and his advisors who knew about the information prior to the meeting kept quiet.

"Yakushi Kabuto offered to help Konoha genin at the very start of the exams," Kakashi continued. "In particular, he approached Team 7 purposefully before he did the others."

The murmurs were very excited now. Ibiki stepped forward as Kakashi stepped back.

"We suspect Kabuto, his team and their sensei are compromised," he said. "Unfortunately, we cannot bring them in for questioning. It would raise suspicions in the opposition's camp if we did and that is something we have to avoid at any cost. But we cannot let Kabuto and his team out of our sights. Too much depends on operational secrecy for the next few months. They will be under observation by ANBU from the counter-intelligence division, henceforth."

The ANBU heads nodded. Sarutobi took center stage again.

"That is all. May God and Will of Fire defend the right!"

xxxxx

It had taken far longer than Danzo anticipated. But that wasn't really a surprise. The sannin were skilled as only a few in the history of the shinobi world were and when they did not want to be found, they could not. Luckily for Konoha, Tsunade, genius kunoichi and world's foremost medic nin had not cared to hide her tracks as her teammates were wont to. If she had, this meeting would not have transpired at all this side of eternity.

"Excuse me, but have you read the slug, the snake and the toad?" the ordinary looking man in plainclothes asked the well-endowed blonde as he slid into the barstool next to hers.

Tsunade's buzz from her drinks went just like that. What the man spoke was the code-phrase to ascertain credentials for whenever some emissary from Konoha wanted to make contact with her. She did not need this today or any other day, for that matter.

"Go away," she told the intelligence officer gruffly. Konoha could go and blow a bull's cock for all she cared.

"I'm afraid not, mistress. I'm under orders. I'm sure you understand," the agent said. He ordered a drink quietly, letting her mull over what he'd said and what he might say to ruin her day further.

And mull, Tsunade did. She could not leave. Sarutobi had said in no uncertain terms that if she made any attempt to avoid an agent of Konoha, he would declare her a nukenin and send his dogs after her when she left the village. He would let her go if only reluctantly, but she owed the village more than it owed her and back in those days at the end of the war, her teacher had no qualms about cashing in the IOUs. And if they could not be cashed, the debtees head on a platter would do in a pinch.

"Fine. Have your say," she said finally when the man took a sip and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Very well. The Hokage wishes your presence in the village for the coming chuunin exams."

"I would rather not go back to that accursed village," Tsunade said bitterly. She had lost all that had ever mattered to her life in that village. The streets, the favorite haunts… They all held painful memories that she could not abide and that was why she had left. Sarutobi knew this. Why would he want her to reopen old wounds? Especially when he knew as well as she did that those wounds had never healed.

"You do not have a choice, mistress," the man said very politely as he laid down the law, "Konoha has bought your debts. If you refuse, Konoha will call them all in at once."

Tsunade glared. How dare the old man do this to her?!

"And if I do?" With Sarutobi, if there was a stick, there was always a carrot. He wouldn't hesitate to use the stick if it was warranted but its main purpose was to sweeten the deal for the carrot.

"You'll have to ask him yourself. They expect you in the village soonest."

The man paid his tab and left the bar as unobtrusively as he must have entered. Tsunade glared at his back till it disappeared and staggered out of the bar after paying hers. Oh, she would hurry all right. She had a few choice words to tell the old monkey and the sooner she got them off her chest and threw them in his face, the better for all concerned.

xxxxx

Author's notes:

I receive so many reviews my heart bleeds!

Anyways, thanks to Nugar, who gave a great idea about Orochimaru and Team 7, and mrriddler, who said I don't have to send in the proofread copy of the draft version of his latest chapter immediately. Without the former, the story would have been looser logically and without the latter, I would not have completed this today. As for Kabuto, his role is not pivotal as Mizuki's but now, everything is setup for it. Let's see if anyone can guess what it will be within the next few chapters.

Thanks to The Unicorn as well for taking me to task about the encounter between Team 7 and Orochimaru. I've made a few changes to the narration.

I hope I've done a good job with this chapter, but as always, it's up to you the readers to decide. Please leave comments.


	10. Pawns on the Board

Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 9: Pawns On The Board

Disclaimer: Woof! Woof! Naruto went poof!

Readers be warned! There is risqué stuff ahead.

It was a little past sunrise, the day after the preliminaries and Team 7 were dutifully seated on the ground before their sensei. Ninja whose morning runs took them through or near Team 7's training ground goggled at the sight of the infamous copy-nin with his team so early in the morning. Of course, the passers-by did not know that Kakashi had set the meeting at four and showed up only a few minutes earlier.

"It's a pleasant morning and I see that my little urchins are full of vim and vigor," the jounin said jovially, flipping a page of his precious book. It was just bright enough for him to read his favorite porn without trouble.

Team 7 grumbled. They'd stupidly believed that their teacher would show up on time just this once and had roused themselves up in the wee hours of the night to make the rendezvous.

"So, what's the first item on the itinerary?" Kakashi smiled beatifically, ignoring the grumbles. If the brats were too stupid to understand his tardiness so many months after training under him, it was not his problem. They were supposed to look underneath the underneath and divine motives, after all. And this was one test they'd failed miserably.

"The AAR?" Sakura asked.

"Yep," Kakashi said, flipping a page.

"We will start with Sasuke first."

"I faced off against Inuzuka Kiba and his dog. Kiba's a taijutsu specialist who works closely with his pooch. I knew going in that I was up against two opponents."

"Doesn't take a genius to figure that out," Naruto commented from the side, evoking a guffaw from Sakura.

Sasuke glared at the blonde but seeing as how the Uzumaki was ignoring him, turned to Kakashi. The jounin shrugged and happily flipped another page.

"The weirdo's seal was causing problems with my chakra so I couldn't use my bloodline or any decent ninjutsu. But my taijutsu has always been better than Kiba's and I knew I had him beat at speed."

"What did the seal do?" Kakashi asked. He had an idea having reviewed the reports on Anko's seal the night before, but he wanted Sasuke's perspective on it.

"It sucks your chakra and then pumps it out again. Only what comes out is far more potent. It also makes me want to hurt someone." Well, it made him want to rend someone limb from limb to tell the truth, but Sasuke was sure that Kakashi did not need that information.

Kakashi nodded thoughtfully. With Anko, the thoughts were always murderous. Not that it took a lot to drive the half-crazy woman into a killing frenzy on the field. Perhaps Orochimaru had succeeded in taming the madness inherent in his technique? Whatever the case, the jounin had already made his decision regarding the seal and he would see it through.

Sasuke waited patiently for several seconds, hoping that his sensei and eternal fount of wisdom would have some sane advice to share, but if Kakashi had any, he was content to keep his thoughts to himself.

"Well, anyways," the raven-haired genin continued, hiding his disappointment, "I knocked out the dog at the onset of the fight. Kiba got in a good hit when I went after his partner, but I considered it a fair bargain. Once mutt-boy's dog was out of the equation, I was able to subdue him without much trouble."

"What could you have done better?" Kakashi asked.

"I could have used bunshins to confuse Kiba when I went after Akamaru."

Kakashi flipped a page and shot his ever-annoying grin at his student.

"May not have worked," he observed musingly. "Inuzukas have a highly developed sense of smell. You'd have had to bunch your bunshins very close to each other and to yourself, minimizing the technique's effectiveness and the false sense of security you'd get out of it would have potentially left you vulnerable. So, depending on how developed young Kiba's olfactory senses are, it may not have worked."

Sasuke nodded.

"Maybe, but I needed only a few seconds to take down Akamaru."

"And there are Inuzukas out there who can smell space-time jutsu," Kakashi replied, throwing a new fact in his student's face. For someone with very little data, Sasuke made a lot of assumptions about the world around him. Assumptions that for all the kid's skill at his job would see him dead someday. So, as the boy's teacher and leader, the jounin considered it his latest sacred duty to stomp that useless arrogance into the ground and crush it until only self remained. The fact that he got a few chuckles out of it was a welcome bonus, moreover.

"Really?" Sakura asked out of curiosity.

"Yes, it's common knowledge, actually. Not even restricted since the Yondaime's time after he created his signature technique," the Hatake replied without breaking eye contact with Sasuke. Sakura may have inadvertently ruined with her inquisitiveness, a lesson her raven-haired teammate needed to learn but that was how the world worked. Best laid plans of mice and men go awry, after all.

Sasuke looked away to the trees on the far side of the clearing. But Kakashi smiled a slight smile under his mask nevertheless. The boy's surrender told him a great many things indeed.

"So, what would you have done, sensei?" Naruto asked.

The jounin turned his attention to his two remaining students then.

"I would have faked an attack on the dog to draw in the young Inuzuka and taken him from the flank with a shunshin. I'm not saying that what Sasuke did was wrong here, mind – it worked, after all – but you guys tend to think in straight lines. That'll only get you killed. Think outside the box. Learn to approach the problem from an oblique angle." To the Uchiha, he said, "Sasuke, always remember that if Kiba had struck with a kunai, you'd have lost. Never forget that."

Sasuke nodded. He had realized that little oversight right after Kiba struck him.

"What else did you learn?"

"That all three of us are too accustomed to fighting as a team," Sasuke replied without hesitation.

"True," Kakashi agreed. "It was intentional. Build the team as you build the individual. The three of you have grown a lot but you've grown most as a team. As you saw in the forest and on the Wave mission, Team 7 is greater than the sum of its parts. The loss of synergy you have built with your teammates when you fight alone is going to be jarring until your individual skills catch up. The solution to this problem is to learn quickly until your individual skills are up to par, of course."

"Of course."

Kakashi did a weird little twirl of his fingers to signal that Sasuke's brief was over and turned to Sakura.

"Sakura, your fight."

Sakura sat up straighter.

"I ensnared Yoroi, my opponent in a genjutsu as soon as I entered the ground and even before the signal was given to start the fight," she said proudly.

Kakashi nodded, and Sasuke and Naruto grinned at their teammate's sneakiness. That was their Sakura, all right. She could never fight on an even footing with either of them and so she did not bother. She used every trick in the book and beyond to even the playing field and on a good day, made them eat humble pie with a panache that hinted at the genius that had lain hidden within for so long.

"I did not know if he was any good at straight up taijutsu, but his build and carriage suggested that he was a close range fighter."

"You mean his ass, Pinky," Sasuke guffawed. Sure, he hadn't seen Sakura check out the bastard's ass but it felt good to egg her so.

"Go blow a bull and fuck a duck, Uke," Sakura shot back instantly. As Naruto collapsed to her left, clutching his stomach and beating the ground in belly laughter, she continued without batting an eyelid, "I approached Yoroi from his left flank with two bunshins, while holding his attention on the other flank with the illusion. I was prepared to kawarimi away if it turned out that he'd seen through my genjutsu and was using himself as bait to entrap me. It turned out he wasn't and I put two kunai in him. One into the back of his leg and the other through his palm."

"Any lessons learnt?"

"He didn't put up a fight at all," Sakura replied with a shrug. What could one learn from a fight with a living dummy other than the different feel of real flesh resisting against metal compared to the fake stuff on a lifelike training model? She suspected a fight with Akamaru would have taught her more.

Kakashi nodded. It was true that Yoroi was a pushover in the match. But then, if the file he'd read on the suspected traitor was true, the boy's specialty lay elsewhere.

"He has a bloodline that's particularly suited for close combat. You're lucky he was a one trick pony who depended solely on his grappling skills," the jounin said. He wanted to say more but couldn't give voice to his suspicions lest his students ask uncomfortable questions that he wasn't prepared to answer.

Team 7 nodded.

"What would you have done if he had seen through your genjutsu, Sakura?" Kakashi asked, mainly so that he could teach his students a new lesson. And with this little kunoichi, there was always the chance that he could gain a completely new perspective on something old as well. They had all learnt from her unique perspectives in the past.

"I'm not as fast as Sasuke or Naruto," Sakura stated, "and I don't have their strength. But as you'd pointed out in the past, Sensei, my taijutsu form is very good for a genin, and I make excellent use of kawarimi and bunshin."

Sakura's three listeners nodded. Sasuke and Naruto had learned to use the two low level techniques to devastating effect from their pink-haired teammate. Kakashi himself acknowledged that he'd picked up a few pointers on the use of the two most basic of techniques in the shinobi's repertoire after seeing his "cute kunoichi student" in action. If Sakura'd been cognizant of the regard that her teacher and teammates had for her as a shinobi, she would have blushed crimson.

"With my physique," Sakura continued, "I can't exchange blows with my opponents and in a test of strength, pummel them to the ground. It'd be best to finish my fights in one blow, whenever possible."

"True," Kakashi agreed, transferring his Icha Icha to his right hand so that he could use his left to tend to the itch on his right elbow.

By this time, Naruto was getting bored out of his wits. Why couldn't Sakura say what she wanted to say outright and be done with it? As she grew more confident, the girl let out more of her scholarly self during these discussions and it was mighty boring to hear her prattle on and on.

"Enough with the analysis. Tell us what you were going to do already," he whined, earning an elbow to his ribs from Sakura, and a glare from Kakashi and Sasuke.

"Ignore the clown. Please continue, Sakura," the jounin said.

Naruto looked to Sasuke for support but the latter had already made his thoughts clear with the glare. With a sigh, the Uzumaki grumbled and resigned himself to enduring more boring talk.

"So, I've been working on my stamina as well as my chakra reserves, and been training to use chakra scalpels in a fight in my free time. So that I could deal out massive damage with touch alone."

"And you'd have used it in the fight?" Sasuke asked.

"I was really hoping I wouldn't have to," the Haruno confessed. "I would have hated to lose the element of surprise in the finals but if the situation were desperate enough, I would have. What good is a secret weapon for the finals if I don't make it that far?"

"True," Kakashi agreed.

"Is that why you've been focusing on redirecting our attacks these last few weeks during our daily spars?" Naruto pointed at Sasuke with his chin.

"Yes. I got the idea from the Wave mission. You know that rogue hunter-nin that used senbon in a fight? I don't know how to use them but I know how to form scalpels."

"So, how does it work?"

"Every time I grabbed your wrists or slapped you anywhere, I was targeting some muscle group or organ inside your body. If I'd used my scalpels, either of you would have been dead multiple times over."

Sasuke grunted.

"In other words, taijutsu with you is a losing proposition."

"Surprise is key," Kakashi observed thoughtfully, "Your innovation is primarily an ambush weapon, but with your expertise in genjutsu, you're an ambush fighter already."

Team 7 looked at their teacher expectantly, in the hope that he would elaborate more but Kakashi had other thoughts.

"Good work, Sakura. Naruto, share with us your thoughts on your fight."

Naruto shot a wide grin at his pink-haired teammate. Two can play at this game of pedantry. And he'd bore her as much as she bored him.

"My opponent, Temari of Suna, was a wind user. Her fans were a clear giveaway."

Sasuke groaned. Naruto was trying to sound like a scholar again. And as usual, he was failing miserably at it.

"Even before I entered the ring, it was clear that she was a long-range fighter specializing in area affect weapons."

Sakura threw up her arms and shook her head. Kakashi smiled behind his mask at the antics of his students. Hopefully, someday in the future, Naruto would get the hang of making speeches that didn't make him look like a nincompoop.

"Her clumsy weapon is a big disadvantage at close combat. But you don't use something like her war-fan unless you're really good at it."

Well, maybe not. The way the boy was going anon stating the obvious, it was clear he'd kill his own brain dead long before he learned wisdom.

"My best hope, I thought, was to decoy her into using her weapon until she started tiring out and close with her.

"As a ruse, I charged her position to learn her capabilities. Once I was reasonably certain, I used a shunshin to close with her as she was recovering from her swing and knocked her fan away. She wasn't much of a challenge after that. Her basic skills were all right but without her primary weapon, she was out of depth."

"Succinctly put," Kakashi said but only because he did not want to shame his student further than the boy had himself. "Lessons learnt?"

"Always have something to fall back on," Naruto said with a shrug. He'd never understood why Kakashi thought there were lessons to be learnt from victorious battles, but he'd started cooperating after the jounin beat the crap out of him for the third time. What was there to digest anyway? He went in, kicked ass and took names, and that was all there was to it.

Kakashi inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. The blonde genin's observation was a valid one, this time. The Hatake still had hopes that Naruto would learn to dissect even the fights he won and look for areas of improvement. It was a lesson that the boy had stubbornly refused to absorb so far. He was a willing enough student studying losses, but forgot all about the ones where he emerged the victor. It was a shortcoming that most people had but truly effective soldiers and armies did not suffer from it. And if the Uzumaki wanted to be a Hokage ever, he needed to understand that victory is as good a teacher as defeat.

"Precisely," he said. "Your opponent was without doubt skilled with her weapon, but it was her sole ace. And since the fan was very visible, it was an obvious giveaway. Out on the field, when your strengths or weaknesses are that apparent, you better have a secret weapon for the rainy day, or you aren't long for this world. You probably saved her life in the long run with the defeat you handed her, Naruto."

"But you encourage us to concentrate on one field even to the detriment of others, sensei," Sakura pointed out.

"First, I never said ignore other fields. I'm training you three to become experts in at least two areas with average or better than average skills in all others. You can't become proficient overnight, of course, which is why I'm focusing on one skill set above all others," Kakashi paused so that his words would register.

"Second, you can branch out later on – in fact, all senior shinobi do – but for genin, being a one-trick pony is perfectly acceptable. You have your team for support. And your mentor is always there by your side, after all. And while it's always better to be master of many so that you won't get flatfooted like the Kazekage's daughter, especially on something as important as an S-rank mission, you aren't going to be running them anytime soon, skilled as you are. Right now, if your teamwork and your sensei aren't enough, it means someone way over your pay grade screwed up badly."

"And we all die," Sakura said with a thin smile.

"Probably. The Wave mission could have gone either way if you guys were any less capable."

"But we had you. You fought Zabuza and killed him," Naruto exclaimed.

Kakashi smiled but did not reply. The Wave mission may have been about Tazuna to begin with, but even halfway through, the parameters had changed and assumed national security level significance. The strategic implications were only now becoming clear as the political situation in Wave improved. But the jounin was not going to tell his students they'd completed an S-rank mission. It might get to their heads if he did. Especially when said S-rank was classified as an A-rank to throw interested foreign parties off-scent as to the magnitude of what had really transpired on the little island nation in that one month.

"So, training?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, that," Kakashi said, flashing them his trademark smile. He paused a few seconds so that he could scan the last few sentences off the page. Once he'd read the porn-goodness, he flipped to the next page and addressed Team 7. "Sakura, your greatest weakness is your chakra capacity."

All three genin nodded. This was old news. Both Sasuke and Naruto had been helping Sakura with her chakra potential for months now.

"Granted, your reserves have improved considerably these last few months, but they're still small. You'll make a deadly fighter if they weren't so pitiful."

"I… We've been working on it, sensei," Sakura said a little defensively.

Sure, this was an AAR and you were meant to lay things out in the open as they are, but she really was giving her best.

Kakashi nodded.

"I know. The coming month, we'll focus on taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, medical jutsu and building your chakra capacity. The intent, and this is true for Sasuke and Naruto as well, is to make you more rounded fighters henceforth. You guys are advanced enough in your primary skill sets that I feel it's safe to diversify a little."

Team 7 felt proud at the acknowledgement, but they remained silent.

"Taijutsu and ninjutsu," Kakashi continued, "you'll learn from study sessions as well as spars with Sasuke and Naruto in your copious spare time."

The genin grimaced. They knew from prior experience what that meant. For the next month, they would have effectively little social life outside the team.

"You'll also learn Genjutsu and medical jutsu in your free time."

Another grimace. Make that no social life.

"The two of us will work solely on improving your chakra capacity and sharpening your tactical acumen."

Sakura nodded.

"Slacking off is unacceptable. If you have to work twenty hours every day to complete your workload for the day, then by God, you will work twenty hours and make do with however little sleep you get," Kakashi said, speaking broadly to his three little killers.

Sakura knew the coming month was going to suck royally, but for the first time in a long while, she felt content. For her, Kakashi's statement of intent today was the icing on the cake that confirmed what had slowly become obvious through the course of Wave mission. The jounin respected his students. And if his acknowledgement and approval came with an increased workload, she would gladly endure the hardships thrown her way. She would do no less for the man who'd made her a shinobi. And she was sure, so would her teammates.

Kakashi turned to Naruto.

"Naruto, your chakra potential is fearsome. Your control sucks to nigh heaven."

Sasuke snickered though he'd known the sobering truth for a while now. Naruto was strong in spite of his chakra troubles. If the Uzumaki could control it, he would become an absolute monster.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the Uchiha who realized he was on precarious ground, though he did not understand why and shut up. It was not as if he meant any harm with that dig, after all.

"Even still," the jounin continued once Sasuke shut up. There really was no reason for the look he'd shot the young Uchiha except perhaps that he'd felt like it. Let the boy think of it what he will.

"We will not focus much on your control. With the chakra you have, chakra control beyond what you have is not an immediate priority. And what you lack in this area, experience will teach you best."

Naruto's face split into a grin. He hadn't been looking forward to the chakra control lessons himself.

"We will concentrate on your ninjutsu, fuinjutsu and taijutsu as well as your genjutsu evasion skills," the jounin pronounced. "Fuinjutsu and taijutsu are for you to learn in your spare time. Sasuke needs training in the use of his sharingan's genjutsu capabilities and you're the designated test rat. Sakura will be testing her wares on you as well."

Naruto groaned. He hated genjutsu like he did nothing else. He knew he was weak in genjutsu applications, and he abhorred weakness like he did nothing else. His childhood experience had seen to that.

"Do not groan. We will work at it until you can at least defend yourself adequately against mind techniques."

The Uzumaki nodded, if a bit sullenly.

"Cheer up. It's not all bad. I will teach you ninjutsu like you've always wanted. You won't need to beg and scrape at Sasuke to teach them anymore."

"You hear that, Sasuke?" Naruto needled his teammate with a cheeky grin. "I don't need you to teach me ninjutsu."

"Idiot."

"Yeah, well, fuck you, man-whore."

"Impotent prick."

"Now, now, Sasuke, Naruto, pipe down," Kakashi intervened, smiling benignly.

The two boys shut up by unspoken agreement. Several times now, since that first time on the Wave mission, the jounin had interfered in their fights. And in true Kakashi fashion, made them feel violated with only a few words. The last time had been particularly bad and made them feel dirty all over.

Kakashi chuckled at his cowed students. They were getting better at masking their feelings, but they were simply out of their league. This was certainly the time to drop the first bomb of the evening.

"Naruto, we will also begin work on accessing the Kyuubi's chakra. It is a potent tool and I feel it's high time you learned to use it."

Naruto looked slightly taken aback at Kakashi's announcement, but did not object. The jounin's training methods had worked so far, reaping great rewards for Team 7 and he was not going to question his commander's decision now. So, as a stoic would, he calmly went with the flow.

A part of the Uzumaki was excited by the thought, even. True to Orochimaru's broad statement regarding Team 7's lust for power in the Forest of Death, the young jinchuuriki's yearning for control and drive to dominate were great enough on their own accord to influence his thoughts decisively on the subject. Coupled with the respect and trust the jounin commanded in Naruto and Team 7, they overrode what little unease the boy felt at the prospect of harvesting his prisoner's chakra to augment his prowess as a ninja on the battlefield.

Kakashi let the silence at the end of his pronouncement drag for a few seconds in case Naruto had any questions or objections. Seeing that his student did not have any, the jounin frowned slightly. This was the first time he'd misread any of his students since he took them under his wing. It appeared that he had misjudged how far Naruto had grown and matured. Quite possibly because of all the stupid stunts the boy still pulled. He considered this incident as yet another sign that his charges were growing up and like any parent, he wasn't sure how he felt about it.

Dismissing that line of thought for later when he had the time, Kakashi turned his attention back to the present, to Naruto and his demon. He had his reasons, rational and not, for avoiding the decision to train the boy as a Jinchuuriki like a plague for months now. However, after that eye-opener of a meeting with Sarutobi, the council, Danzo and ANBU, he had realized he did not have any choice in the matter. Now, events beyond his control had forced him into a corner and with war waiting just around the corner, damned he would be if his students suffered the same fate as poor Obito and Rin.

Still, try as he might, the Hatake could not shake the shame at the thought of having failed his student in this regard, however inadvertently.

"No questions?"

"Whatever it takes to win," Naruto replied, laconically. It wasn't the complete truth but it would do.

"Yes," Kakashi nodded agreeably. He sensed there was more behind the decision than Naruto's stated reason, but it appeared that the youngster did not want to talk about it. "We will discuss this later."

Naruto shrugged, misinterpreting Kakashi's words to mean he doubted the genin wasn't one hundred percent sure. But the blonde trusted his teacher to make this assessment and since Kakashi was sure, so was Naruto. Perhaps most important of all, he felt neither hesitation nor doubt about the decision made. He was perfectly willing to stick to the plan so long as it did not derail. If it did, he would abandon the pursuit of Kyuubi's power until he was better equipped to handle it.

Kakashi eyed the blonde thoughtfully and could not help the smallest of smiles once he divined the chain of thought that culminated in that shrug. It felt good to know that he had gained the complete trust of one of his students and to know that his student was so confident. The jounin was all for confidence earned with accomplishments paid for with sweat and blood.

"Sasuke," Kakashi said, turning to address the Uchiha, "your Sharingan is powerful. But you are far from being its master."

Naruto threw Sasuke a raspberry, who masterfully ignored the childish act. Kakashi, however, felt no compunction to act so restrained and snickered.

"You will train your speed, genjutsu and ninjutsu. Learn speed from your spars with Naruto and Sakura in your free time. Work with Sakura and Naruto on genjutsu every minute you get. I charge you and Sakura with responsibility for teaching Naruto defense against genjutsu. I cannot stress the importance of this enough. Without it, Naruto is a dead man walking. Sooner or later, he will meet a genjutsu expert and he will die. So bear that thought in mind."

Kakashi paused and grinned inanely at his students.

"I give the two of you cart blanche to do whatever it takes to teach Naruto what he needs to survive."

Sakura became severity incarnate at those words. Sasuke grinned like a maniac at the thought of all the things he could do to the annoying blonde.

Naturally, Kakashi had to have some fun at the raven-haired genin's expense.

"Sasuke, master yourself. I understand you're an 'uke' and as your teacher, I accept you as the person you are, but really, I draw the line at creepy, gay daydreams in an AAR."

Sasuke's mouth flapped open. He tried to speak but words failed him. Naruto and Sakura roared in laughter, clutching their torsos.

Kakashi winked at them.

"I will teach you a few ninjutsu but henceforth, I expect you to copy it from your opponents in the finals and from your teammates. You and I will work almost exclusively on mastering and utilizing your curse seal in battle."

The Hatake paused as he had with Naruto before, but Sasuke was still out of it. The jounin nodded at Sakura, who punched the Uchiha in his shoulder.

"What?" Sasuke asked Sakura in an annoyed voice.

Sakura pointed at Kakashi.

"Joined the world of the living, have we?"

Sasuke glared.

"Want me to repeat my words?"

"I heard it, Sensei. You said that you're going to train me in the use of the curse seal."

"Yes. Orochimaru offered you power. I'm offering you the same as well. You will get loads of it. Here. As a member of Team 7."

Sasuke grunted in annoyance.

"I wasn't planning on joining the freak," he said pointedly.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed.

"Orochimaru is not a joke, Sasuke. He is a genius of the highest caliber."

Not realizing the seriousness with which the jounin was treating the subject, Sasuke snorted dismissively.

"And I'm an Uchiha," he commented.

Kakashi chuckled, as did Sakura and Naruto. Then quick as a flash, the jounin was behind raven-haired genin, yanking his student's hair hard and painfully twisting his right arm behind him. Sasuke had sensed the movement but sitting on the ground, he was in no position to evade or defend himself against his teacher. The jounin knew the boy was helpless the way he was seated, of course, which is why he did what he did.

"I don't doubt your loyalty, Sasuke. But I will not tolerate stupidity."

Kakashi twisted the arm harder.

"I'm no Uchiha and I kick your ass every day. As does Naruto more often than not, for that matter. And when Sakura gets going, she makes the two of you look like rank amateurs."

Kakashi released the hold and stood up.

"Get your head out of your ass, boy," he growled. "That arrogance will get you killed one day."

Sasuke said nothing. Neither did Sakura nor Naruto. Kakashi's action was completely unexpected – he hadn't gone psycho on them since the start of the Wave mission and they'd gotten used to the mostly normal, pervert – and his reversion was all the more shocking for it.

The jounin cleared his throat to gain Team 7's attention.

"Anyways," he said, sliding back to laidback self, "I wanted to talk about something else. Naruto, Sakura, Team 10 witnessed your fight with the Sound team while Sasuke was out."

Sakura blinked and Naruto glared defiantly.

"Oh? What of it?" the blonde asked.

"They didn't see the whole fight. But they saw enough of it to frighten them. I must say I'm intrigued."

"The bastards said they wanted to kill Sasuke," Naruto growled as if that simple statement was explanation enough.

Kakashi knew why the Sound team were after Sasuke and he even had an inkling why Orochimaru sent them. But national security was involved and he had to play dumb.

"Did they say why they wanted to kill Sasuke?"

Naruto glared at the ground. He was too angry to reply straight and so, Sakura stepped in.

"They said Orochimaru sent them."

"Ah!"

"They just walked into the clearing," she continued, her eyes losing focus as she remembered her first kill. "They had the gall to threaten us. They said if we don't give up Sasuke, they'd kill us."

"We refused and asked them, why?" Naruto added.

Sakura nodded and took over the narration.

"They said Orochimaru sent them to kill him. I don't remember much of what happened next. I think that I lost control…"

"All that pent up anger from when the traitor knocked Sasuke out and gave him that seal," Naruto explained to Kakashi when the latter shot him a question glance.

Sakura shrugged.

"Next thing I know, I was splattered with blood and my kunai was sticking out of the Sound girl's eyes."

"She used genjutsu and laid into them like she laid into you that day," Naruto elaborated, referring to the _final test _where Kakashi had beaten them all senseless. "They fell like puppets."

"And what did you do?"

"The last bastard tried to blindside Sakura, but I kicked him away. He hit a tree and took off into the forest, the coward."

"And you chased after him."

"Not immediately. Sakura was done with the other two by then and was standing around dumbly. I shook her out of it and told her to guard Sasuke. Then I went after the son of a bitch."

"And beat him to death with the handle of your kunai."

"I puked my guts out, afterwards," Naruto said defensively. "But yeah, I did it. No one threatens my teammates while I'm alive and lives to tell the tale."

"I bet. The boy's face was caved in."

Naruto's defiant glare intensified.

"Well, good work," Kakashi said after allowing the silence to stretch for a few seconds.

Even Sasuke looked taken aback at the words of encouragement.

"That's it? No advice against committing needless murders?" Naruto asked disbelieving.

"Don't be stupid," the jounin replied. "Our profession does not allow such sentiments. I would have objected if Sound were our allies or your actions had endangered the mission in any way. You weren't on a mission and Sound isn't an ally. But most of all, I won't say anything because I'm proud of you all. It's nice to see you've internalized loyalty to one's own and made it an important part of your work ethic."

Kakashi peered down at his students.

"What do I care if a genin team from some village died like pigs in a slaughterhouse? They aren't mine in any sense of the word. I care that you don't regret it. Do you?"

Naruto and Sakura shook their heads.

"No nightmares?"

"No."

"Then this meeting is over. We'll meet after lunch. You have the morning to yourselves," Kakashi said before shunshining away.

Naruto got up and threw the pebble in his hands at a nearby tree.

"Naruto? Sakura?"

"Yeah, Uke."

"Thanks guys. I… appreciate it."

Sakura was too busy digesting Kakashi's words and was not much use at this point.

"Ah, shut up, Uke. It's not like you wouldn't have done the same yourself."

Sasuke turned his head to stare into the horizon, a genuine smile flitting across his face. He really had found a new family in his team.

"Breakfast?" he asked.

"Ramen by God or I'll gut you alive."

Yep, he had a family all right.

xxxxx

At first sight, Suna appeared to have fallen on hard times and was struggling for survival. This was no surprise, considering the ever-tightening noose the ruling Daimyo had around the village's economic mainstay.

The nondescript trader hawking his wares from a bull drawn cart knew otherwise. He was an agent of Konoha and while it was true that the situation in Suna had taken a turn for the worse, the Daimyo wasn't the cause of the latest turn in fortunes. To divine the cause, he'd made polite enquiries with the ostensible reason of purchasing goods to sell them at his next stop. He learnt that none of the essential materials of war – leather, steel, etc – were in stock. Going by whispered conversations between frightened civilians at shops and bars, they had all dried up mysteriously within the last few months. Calls had gone out for ninja reserves, and farmers and trade folk sensed that trouble lurked around the corner. Either fact, by itself was ominous, but together, they meant that Suna was rapidly gearing up for war.

As far as the spy was concerned, however, the clinching argument for the war theory had to do with donkeys. Several months back, the donkey market had been shut down by express order of the Kage and the asses requisitioned by the Suna Supply Corps. This was a fairly common event under the paranoid Kage's rule that two of the merchants had dared to break the law. They had been drawn and quartered in the village square by ANBU as an object lesson. Since then, a few civilians had seen the donkeys laden with goods and being led south towards the ocean under escort since then.

"Ah, Tanaka-san," the spy greeted, espying a fat woman in a traditional kimono. Both the kimono and its owner had seen better days, though it was hard to believe in the case of the lady.

"Toshihiro-san," the lady Tanaka bowed. "Do you have incense with you?"

Toshihiro Muraki, the spy, nodded. He did, indeed. Tanaka Yui was a pathological gossip and he had carefully cultivated her both as an information source and as a customer. She thought he was her friend as she was his.

"I have some saved up just for my favorite customer," he said. "Masaru-san two streets down wanted it, but I told him I'd run out of the stuff."

More than anything in the world, Yui liked to be granted preferential treatment and the spy always made sure she felt thus.

"You're such a dear."

"Anything for my loyal customer," Muraki replied, rummaging through the trunk for the incense. He pulled it out and handed it over to her. "There you go."

Yui smiled at him.

"Thanks," she said. "How's business?"

He smiled his well practiced and patently false, stoic smile.

"So-so but I'm making do."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"I thought that I could make a few sales in Suna before I head out north, but the village is half-empty," he groused. "It's like the menfolk just up and decided to leave."

The Tanaka pinched her lips as she waged a losing battle against her nature. Finally, she looked around guiltily and walked to the cart, making as if she were examining the wares on display.

"It's because they have," she half-whispered, shooting a friendly smile at another matron hurrying down the street.

"Indeed!" the merchant exclaimed in a restrained manner. Playing the proper merchant, he moved closer to her and joined in her act. The two of them had done this countless times before.

The lady flicked a fleck of imaginary dust off her kimono and nodded.

"But who will protect the womenfolk?"

"There are ninja around," she whispered vaguely.

Clearly, the woman's mind was preoccupied with something else, but good as all this chitchat was, Muraki wanted final confirmation of a piece of intelligence. Intel that was of vital importance to Konoha.

"Even the Kazekage's children?" he asked, quietly.

"No, the monster and his siblings are gone. Hopefully, they'll die."

Yui Tanaka was quick to hate and spiteful as her kind usually are, which was why the spy asked the question. Now, he could direct the conversation where he wanted without appearing suspicious.

"The youngest one is creepy," the spy said, "but surely, he is not a monster."

"He's a killer," Yui spat vehemently.

"That little boy? I've seen him around a few times. He was a strange one, but he didn't look so threatening."

"He has the one-tail sealed within him," Yui whispered in a voice that was barely this side of audible. "He's a monster."

And Muraki had his confirmation. He would make the drop at the usual point seven miles north of Suna at night. Within the week, the Hokage would have the precious intel in his hands, but the spy did not care about all that. The decisions made with the fruits of his labor were not his concern. Only getting them to his control was.

xxxxx

Sarutobi glared at the Daimyo's messenger standing rigidly before him. Mizuki observed the conversation with feigned disinterest from his desk at the entrance of the Hokage's office.

"The Daimyo's request is impossible to honor," the Hokage said forcefully, faking anger himself. "I have an exam to conduct within village walls and foreign shinobi to monitor."

"Be that as it may, Lord Hokage, the Daimyo of Hi no Kuni wishes shinobi from his loyal Ninja Corps to execute his wishes within the time frame specified," the messenger repeated his earlier words, laying added emphasis on loyal.

Put that way, with that implied threat, Sarutobi could not rightfully refuse his liege the tasking request before him. The Hokage made a show of thinking long and hard, which Mizuki believed. The chuunin, skilled though he was in the ninja arts, had neither the talent nor the experience to differentiate truth from falsehood in the Third's words and actions. So, he took the bait, hook, line and sinker.

"I'll have to activate the reserves and send out my ANBU," the veteran shinobi general muttered aloud.

It never occurred to Mizuki that the Third had modulated his voice so that it could carry over to his desk. The chuunin was too preoccupied about the financial windfall about to come his way to really pay attention to the rest of the conversation, but the 'messenger' and the Hokage did not take any chances. They played their parts to perfection with such flair that even a skeptic would have been hard-pressed to disbelieve the apparent truth in the argument.

When Mizuki made the drop that night, no one tailed him. The location hadn't been a secret for months. ANBU had long since rented a house two down from the garbage bin and put it under constant surveillance. And when Kabuto made the pickup that night – his first time ever – he did not know it, but he was observed by two experienced ANBU working the stakeout.

xxxxx

Kakashi stood at attention before the Hokage as the latter gently eased himself into the couch in his living room.

"Kakashi, my apologies for calling you in at so late an hour," the oldster said.

"I live to serve, Hokage-sama," the jounin replied, more severely than he meant to.

The Third smiled and waved at a chair.

"Sit."

Kakashi took the proffered seat and glanced questioningly at his commander and general.

"I asked you here because I'm concerned."

The jounin raised an eyebrow.

"Please, Kakashi, allow me to explain. I learnt from my ANBU reports today that you are training Sasuke in the use of his cursed seal. I understand your reasons, but I'm concerned."

"Hokage-sama, if you're concerned the curse seal is evil…"

"Please, Kakashi. I'm not one of those fools blinded by fear. Power by itself is never evil. Neither is its application. It's always the user who is."

"With respect, Hokage-sama, there is no reason to doubt Sasuke's loyalty," the jounin said off-handedly.

Sarutobi, however, sensed the anger hidden behind the Hatake's words. No teacher liked to have his student called a traitor to his face, after all. The first order of business then, was to placate the jounin.

"I have utmost faith in your ability as a teacher," the Third said, "but I fear Orochimaru's hold on the boy."

Kakashi nodded.

"Unless Naruto and Sakura join him in exile, Sasuke will not betray the village, Hokage-sama. Naruto's loyalty to you is unquestioned. He will die before he breaks faith with you. Sakura's loyalty is divided between the village and the team, but she will put the needs of the village before that of the team. She will not leave because that would jeopardize Konoha. And Sasuke will not cross that Rubicon."

Sarutobi thought it over for a while in silence.

"And if you're wrong?"

"I'll do my duty by the village, Hokage-sama," the jounin spoke harshly.

"My apologies, Kakashi. Best of luck with your team."

xxxxx

"Jiraiya-sama."

The gray-haired sannin turned askance at the ANBU who'd appeared at a non-threatening distance before him, wondering why the operative was making contact now. He was less than an hour's walk from the village and the least the man could do was wait until he was refreshed and within the walls before announcing his presence. Unless…

"Sarutobi-sensei send you?"

The ANBU nodded.

"Urgent message?"

"I bring movement orders, Jiraiya-sama."

"For me?"

"Yes. I was told to convey this. You're to stay hidden outside the walls of Konoha till the night before the finals. On that night, you will report at the location described in this scroll."

Jiraiya collected the scroll. He ensured that the seal was not tampered with and breaking it, read the contents. The sannin made to pocket the parchment and leave once he was done, but the ANBU interrupted him.

"My orders are to ensure the scroll is destroyed, Jiraiya-sama."

The contents of the scroll certainly warranted such paranoia, containing as it did, not only the rendezvous but also the outline of the Op Plan for the Chuunin exams along with other relevant and highly sensitive information. He would have preferred to study it further, but the ANBU was right. The information was just too important to carry around in a physical storage medium especially after said medium was unsealed. His memory would have to do.

"My bad," Jiraiya said with a wry, apologetic grin and handed over the scroll.

The masked shinobi nodded gratefully. He'd been afraid that the sannin would throw a fit over some stupid point of pride like a few of the older shinobi were wont to, but the veteran hadn't. The ANBU collected the scroll and burned it immediately. He crushed the ash under his feet and left without another word.

xxxxx

The early morning rush at the market was at its peak as people bustled about, buying fresh produce for breakfast. Mizuki was one of the hundreds out bargaining with the merchants this morning. A chuunin's salary did not allow such luxuries as hiring genin to do your housework for you. Not if you wanted to save money, at least. And Mizuki, though he was rich beyond dreams and would soon have the power to match, had donned a role as a loyal chuunin of moderate means and had to play it to perfection.

As the traitorous chuunin navigated a particularly crowded mass of people standing at a fish-monger's and blocking the road, he felt a little prick like an insect sting on the back of his left thigh. It was sharp, but in his exuberant state of mind, he did not pay much attention to it. Not that it would have helped him if he had anyways.

The final symptom came as a sharp jolt from his thigh and rapidly turned something much worse. Mizuki fell to the ground, clawing, as his jaws locked and his body went into seizure. He was dead within the minute. His assassin, a kind old lady who'd once been ANBU during the Second Shinobi War had long since left the scene of the assassination by then.

xxxxx

The oldster used a cane to get around. But it was clear that he did not really need it just as it was clear that he was a veteran shinobi and a survivor of many battles. The men manning the security post on the Tea country border gave him their full cooperation after he produced the Daimyo's and the Hokage's orders before their commandant.

"Is that all, Master Koichi?" the young conscript asked. He was as much in awe of the investigator as he had been afraid that the man had come to investigate their little unit for corruption. They'd only done it because everyone else did and the bribes were a nice supplement to their income. It wasn't as if they had let enemies of the state pass through or anything, after all. Just a few merchants without the proper papers now and then.

The old man smiled. He sensed how agitated the garrison was, but that was no surprise. It was really impossible to stop smuggling across the border and it would take the rare honest individual with the courage of conviction to refuse his comrades to stay off the take. He had discovered a few discrepancies in that regard while auditing the current post, but he wasn't interested. His job wasn't to put an end to "trade across the border," after all. The Daimyo and the Hokage recognized that it could not be stopped and only intervened when the scale of operations became too large.

No, the veteran had found something much more interesting. He had three more posts to inspect but the movement orders he'd gleaned from the merchant donkey trains was all the information he needed. Konoha now knew where the main body of the Suna-Oto force was headed and even had a rough timeframe of the schedule the invaders followed.

"No, I've found nothing interesting," Master Koichi said. "I will lunch and be on my way, if it isn't too much of a bother."

xxxxx

Tsunade glared at her ANBU escort, her companion and guard, Shizune, her pet pig, Tonton and of course, the old geezer seated before her.

"Old man, I demand an explanation," she growled at her teacher.

"Explain what, Tsunade?" Sarutobi asked, making himself comfortable in his couch.

It was late night and Tsunade had been kept sequestered in the Hokage's basement since she showed up at the gates of Konoha that morning.

"Your ANBU accosted me a few miles from the village. I was to disguise myself in non-descript clothes, they said. Shizune and I were to split up and report at specified times at your doorstep. I followed those inane instructions, but when I showed up, your housekeeper showed me the den and locked in. What is the meaning of this?"

"The meaning, newly reinstated jounin and special advisor of the Hokage, Senju Tsunade is this. Konoha is at war and has need for your services again."

Tsunade spluttered.

"How dare you?" she seethed vitriol. "I lost everything I've ever loved to this village. Isn't that enough for you?"

Sarutobi stared passively at the blonde sannin. Tsunade slumped, seeing that her anger wasn't having any effect.

"Aren't all the sacrifices I've made for this village enough?" she asked, trying a different tack and pleading. "I don't have any more to give, sensei. I'm useless. I can't even work as a medic."

"You will overcome your fear of blood in due time," he decreed imperiously. Then, softly, "I'm not asking you to fight on the front lines, Tsunade. I'm not even asking you to operate on the wounded. The first is a no-no and the latter is up to you. But the village needs you. It needs your medical expertise and the hope your presence will bring to the hearts of our shinobi on the frontlines."

Tsunade bit her lip and thought about it. But there wasn't any choice here and she knew she could not refuse. There was the threat of debt and life as a nukenin hanging over her head.

"What do you want of me?"

"Take over the administration of the Medic Corps. Teach them. Share your wisdom. Save lives."

The offer was much more kind than she had expected. Tsunade nodded.

xxxxx

He groaned as he ground into her and she moaned softly into his ear, her legs clamping around his waist in a death grip as it strove mightily to pull him deeper inside. The bed creaked as they played the age old game under the moonlit night, their union illuminated by the pale light of Earth's little lover streaking through the window.

A soft breeze blew strands of her unbraided hair across her face and as he quickened his thrusts to match her urgency, he brushed them aside and kissed her full on her lips. She groaned into his mouth and his tongue found hers.

The room filled with soft moans of her pleasure, the wet slurps of their kissing, the heated grunts of his passion and the smacking of two bodies moving against each other in the simplest and purest expression of love there is.

Afterwards, as he laid on her, his head against her bosom, her fingers running through his hair, their sweat glistening on their bodies and him still inside her wet depths, she patted him on his shoulders and he looked up.

"I love you," she whispered.

This time, when he replied, there was no hesitation like the three nights before.

"I love you, too."

"I wish we could spend more time together."

"Well, it's a hectic time at work right now."

"Will you ever be free? I want a few days all to ourselves without your job coming in between."

He hesitated. He wasn't really supposed to talk about his work to anyone outside the armed forces. However, her request was a minor thing. Surely, it had no security implications.

"Most of the fleet will retire to the port for shelter, repair work and provisions at the cusp of winter three months from now," he said. "Security will be routine and I'll have trained my newbie adjutant by then. I should be able to get a week or two off then."

"Could you?"

"I'm sure I can. I'll talk to the base commander and get it approved."

And yet another piece fell into place.

xxxxx

"Why the forlorn face, Kabuto?" Orochimaru asked in his sneering voice. Kabuto was the most talented of the exiled sannin's playthings and Orochimaru liked to egg him on so. Mostly because he loved mind games with someone who was his near intellectual equal.

"Mizuki's story checks out, Orochimaru-sama," the spectacled spy replied.

"And you feel bad because…"

"Something doesn't feel right. Why would the Daimyo want an ANBU detail of all times now? There are foreign shinobi around and Konoha is in a heightened security state especially with the assassination of Mizuki, yes, but the reserves give me a bad feeling."

"Ah, but there's a reason for the reserves, dear Kabuto," Orochimaru drawled.

The spy adjusted his glasses.

"Indeed?"

"Yes. The Fire Daimyo is preparing for war with Tea within the next few months."

Orochimaru did not say that the information was reported by the deceased turncoat, Mizuki. It was a minor oversight but an inexplicable one since the sannin's mind was preoccupied with the dead chuunin in the first place. But he was also focused on Kabuto and their game, and he erred.

"Have we shared this with Tea country? You shouldn't keep such vital intelligence out of my hands, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto admonished. "Not if you want me to make the best decisions coordinating our forces for the Chuunin exams."

Orochimaru grinned as a predator eyeing prey.

"You have the information now, Kabuto," he said, avoiding the infiltrator's question.

"Hmm… Have you considered that our troops are using Tea to smuggle themselves in Hi no Kuni? Will Fire's troop movements coincide with ours?"

"It's almost autumn, Kabuto. Fire will not declare war until next summer."

"But they are preparing and we haven't informed our allies in Tea," Kabuto mused aloud.

"Yes. We don't want to panic them and Fire's plans suit us just fine. Let them prepare for the future. We'll steal their present momentarily."

Kabuto smiled broadly.

"I'm concerned, Kabuto," Orochimaru continued in a more serious tone, "about Mizuki's death. Who ordered the assassination?"

Kabuto adjusted his glasses again.

"The Hokage's office is in bigger disarray than we are because of the killing. My sources tell me the Third is livid. It's common knowledge that ANBU have been streaming in and out of the MP HQ all day long and the MPs themselves have been scurrying like mad, calling in lots of people for questioning. They even appear to be making some headway."

"So it checks out."

"All is as you would expect when someone who worked with sensitive information is assassinated like Mizuki was."

"We did not liquidate Mizuki and it appears, neither did Konoha. Who else had it in for him?" the sannin wondered aloud.

"It's quite possible he was selling secrets to other nations as well, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto said, offering an alternate explanation.

Orochimaru thought it over.

"Investigate along those lines. I want whoever killed Mizuki found and I want them liquidated in return. I don't like my pets being messed with especially when the pet was an useful one."

Kabuto nodded and marched off to execute his master's commands.

xxxxx

Author's notes:

Please leave reviews. And my apologies for this long author's notes.

So, big chapter. For those who have reservations about the prelim fights or the absence of them thereof, you should know that it was never my intention to dwell on them or the encounter with the Oto team in the Forest of Death. My idea was to create a meld of plot and characterization that would throw some light on Team 7's growth as a team and as individuals and yet cover an event that's crucial to the plot. I'll leave to you to guess which one. I hope that I succeeded in the execution of my idea…

As for training… Well, I'm not going to do it. I don't see the point. I don't want to ruin a surprise in some fight by talking about the technique beforehand. I also don't want to tie my hands by handing over the list of techniques that each character knows. It'll reduce my freedom of movement, so to speak.

The rest of the stuff… A battle is like a big game of chess. You position your pieces, deduce the other guy's intentions (gather intelligence), counter his actions and when you're ready, you pounce on him like a demon from the depths of hell. We've seen the pieces being moved, the intelligence being gathered and the countermoves being plotted in the preceding chapter as well as this one. Guess what's going to happen next?

For the old veterans that I've used in this chapter… Just because a shinobi is too old to fight doesn't mean that he/she can't be on the active duty rooster. It only means they can't fight pitched battles and it would be a real shame to lose all that wile and wisdom honed through decades of practice. So, shinobi do not grow old. They become intelligence officers or advisors to the lords like Koharu and Homura are for Sarutobi.

Finally, I've never written lemon. I'm not sure how one should write it. That little "scene" with the female spy and the Tea officer was the best I could do. I hope you find that pale imitation palatable. It's not exactly a lemon, but then, I didn't want one.


	11. War Around The Corner!

The Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 10: War Around The Corner!

Disclaimer: The weed is good! Long live the weed!

Sarutobi glared at the reports on his desk and then at the blond medic nin before him.

"Tsunade," he spat his student's name in an acidic tone, his eyes narrowed.

The sannin flashed a cherubic smile at her teacher and commander in reply.

"I have before me," the Hokage continued, "three formally filed complaints on your conduct. I have had shinobi complaining all week about the cooperation they get from you in the pursuit of their lawful duty to Konoha."

Tsunade's smile widened and the Third firmly quelled the urge to strangle his student. He could do it only because both knew that the cards were stacked against the sannin and there was no way she could win. They both knew, however, that even though her cause was a lost one, she could still make a big nuisance out of herself. Which she was. Rather well, in fact.

"In light of your extenuating circumstances, I could ignore all these complaints, but now," Sarutobi grit out, "I hear that we're two days behind schedule on a project that's vital to Konoha's security. When I ask about my reports to explain the delay, they point their finger at you and make no secret of their contempt for my genius medic student. I'm willing to forgive a great many things of my students, Jounin, but not when the village and my people are at risk. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Tsunade did not reply, though the grin remained firmly etched on her face. For the first time, Sarutobi wondered if he could get through to her or even if he should. Perhaps she was really so petty as to put her interests ahead of the whole village's and turn a blind eye to the crisis almost upon them all.

"You asked me to make myself of use. I'm making myself of use," she replied after a few seconds of that smug silence.

The Hokage shot out of his seat and slammed his hands on the desk, bristling with anger.

"No, Tsunade, you're not. What you're doing is making a nuisance of yourself and being criminally negligent. I would say traitorous, if I didn't know you better. Do not make me doubt the wisdom of my decision to bring you back, Jounin. You can do right by your duty to your people and live, or you can die a traitor. There's no middle ground and there's no other choice. So make your decision. Here. Now. Should I put you down like a rabid dog that's a danger to everyone around it or will you make yourself of use?"

Tsunade's smile faded in the middle of her teacher's rant. She scowled, her face, a caricature of righteous fury.

"Oh, you give me the freedom to choose now?" she growled. "Freedom I didn't have when you ordered me to this hell hole and…"

The Hokage slammed his desk again, cutting off the sannin mid rant.

"What do choice and freedom have to do with duty? And how is what's on the table now different to what you had before?" he asked in a low voice that sounded reasonable, but really wasn't. Truth was Sarutobi was nearing the end of a short fuse.

Tsunade did not reply. She simply glared at a point over Sarutobi's right shoulder.

"You remember what duty is, don't you, apprentice? It's what made Dan and Nawaki fight against impossible odds and sacrifice their lives. It's what made him," the Third pointed at the carved face of the Fourth on the monument visible through the window, "sacrifice his life, his family and his son, and condemn the last to a life of hate and fear as a Jinchuuriki to protect the village. It's what gives honor to every hero who'd ever laid down their life in this village's defense.

"So choose your next words carefully, apprentice mine, lest they be the last few to ever come out of your mouth. I understand your pain and anger, but I will not have my mentor's granddaughter, of all people, dishonoring the many honorable souls who'd laid down their lives for the good of the village."

Tsunade glared at her teacher anew, angered by his low blows. She grit her teeth and was the picture of anger and misery as tears glittered in her eyes. She had given too much already and had nothing left. Couldn't her master understand that?

The Hokage walked around the desk and pushed the blond into a chair even as he leaned against his desk.

"Sit," he ordered in a stern voice. "Your loss was great, but you cannot live in the past forever, Tsunade. What would Dan or Nawaki…"

Tsunade made to stand as the Third spoke those two names again, but the oldster pushed her back forcefully. The sannin could have easily overpowered him – she was old, but he was a lot older than her and there was always her phenomenal strength to fall back on – but he was giving her that disapproving look he used to when he was their jounin mentor and she could never stand up to it.

"Sit down and listen, I said. Your teacher and master speaks to you now."

A pause.

"Good. I feel for you and I understand your pain, apprentice, but it's not right that you should ruin yourself over past regrets."

Tsunade sniffled then as anger deflated and the old, festering wound opened anew.

"I have nothing," she whispered. "They took everything away. I've given all that I had and I have nothing more to give. There's nothing more to take, sensei. Please let me go."

Sarutobi raised her head and his eyes met hers.

"You have the village. You have the memories of the two men in your life. Honor their memories. Honor the village. Protect the ideal they gave their lives for. Defend their dream. Protect their people."

The sannin looked at her teacher in confusion.

"Go, Tsunade. Live their dream as you loved them."

The sannin did not quite acquiesce, but as she walked away, she glanced back and gave her teacher the strangest look.

Sarutobi eyed the door for the longest time as he made the only decision that he could given the sannin's behavior so far.

"Reduce her security clearance," he said aloud, sounding defeated.

A side door opened at the Hokage's words. The ANBU Intelligence head stepped out of a secret closet barely large enough to seat one man.

"You want her stripped of her jounin status, Hokage-sama?" the ever-paranoid commander asked.

Sarutobi shook his head, even though he knew that in Tsunade's case, his subordinate's paranoia was perfectly justified. The sannin could not be trusted. He'd hoped she'd become his successor, but it was now clear that whatever Tsunade had once been, she wasn't Hokage material anymore.

"No, but keep her under observation. Ensure that she's aware of the surveillance, but don't be so obvious that she'll have cause to complain."

The commander nodded. The sannin would expect the spies after that meeting and would think something amiss if there were none on her tail.

"Do not entrust her with anything relating to national security," the Third added as an afterthought. He knew the instruction wasn't really needed, for the commander was as professional and capable as they come, but this was national security and only a fool left things to chance. "As of now, Jounin Senju Tsunade is on probation for six months pending review."

"At the end of these six months…" the masked ANBU trailed off.

The Hokage caught the man's eye in silent acknowledgement of the man's concerns.

"Tsunade main responsibility for the next six months is to document her medical knowledge on scrolls as well as to selected officers in the Medic Corps. If her loyalty is found wanting at the end of this period, we'll deal with her then."

The finality with which the Third said "deal" left no room for doubt that it was an execution warrant. A skilled shinobi like Tsunade who knew a lot of dirty secrets could not be allowed to leave the village if her loyalty was doubtful. More so when said shinobi harbored a grudge against her village, which the sannin would by the end of the grace period if she did not change.

xxxxx

The ANBU tracker knelt down by the remains of the campfire and examined the wet ash. He held up two fingers to his patiently waiting captain. Two hours since the fire was doused.

"We made good time, eh, Stinker?" his commander asked in that calm, collected sounding voice of his.

Stinker, the tracker and a seasoned veteran of many battles, nodded. He liked the rookie officer because the captain had sounded just as calm and collected in the middle of a running battle with three high ranking nukenin. In Stinker's opinion, nothing instilled confidence in men as the knowledge of their commander's carefree conduct in the middle of a fight. Conversely, there was nothing worse than a panicking officer to destroy confidence and morale.

But as professional as the squad leader was and as much as he admired the man, Stinker reminded himself, there was work to be done. He pushed the thoughts about his commanding officer aside and turned his attention to the task at hand. The expert examination of spoor left by the trail animals. Once he'd learned all he could from the donkey droppings, Stinker turned to face his captain.

"We're less than an hour and a half behind them," he pronounced and pointed to the forest bordering the hills a dozen miles to the left of the trail. "They're headed for that forest."

The captain turned to regard the hills and nodded absent-mindedly. That country was wild and mostly uninhabited. Ideal if you're a thief, bandit, smuggler, or in this case, wannabe invader.

Even though his CO's attention was focused elsewhere for the most part, Stinker sensed the unasked question. The captain may be a recently promoted newbie, but he was very good leadership material. Good enough that he understood he had to give his tracker sufficient time to complete his report before interrupting him.

"In a trade route such as this one," Stinker elaborated, partly because the captain was the sort of guy who was interested in such things and partly because it struck his fancy to show off to this man he admired, "there's always the possibility of confusing one merchant train with another. But there are various clues that point to this one as our trail. Our man's piss on that bush over there, the spoor from the worm-infected donkey and of course, the lame one that's hurt its right front leg."

A brief pause as Stinker debated whether he should make a statement as a part of his verbal report that wasn't based on facts.

"That last one's probably the work of our man as well."

The captain turned to regard his subordinate. He debated whether he should praise the man for a job well done for all of two seconds before he made up his mind.

"Nice work, Stinker," he said. "Tell Spitter that we move in five."

Stinker nodded with a smile. The captain had never praised anyone in the unit before, not that the men had exactly been clamoring for his recognition the first two months of his assignment. The situation was now different, of course, after the man led them to an easy victory against the nukenin.

Thus, grinning broadly, Stinker walked to the XO, who was set up on the perimeter and to convey the order. The squad was equipped with radios, but using even short-range ones, which was what they were equipped with, while tracking prey was folly.

The movement orders taken care of, the captain summoned a hawk to carry a message back to HQ.

"Soryuu, please carry this message to ANBU Intelligence. Mule Train 3 headed into Forest 2177."

Forest 2177 was roughly a full day's travel from Konoha – half a day's march and another half to rest and recoup. It was inaccessible country to most and was considered useless from a military standpoint by powers friendly and otherwise outside Fire country.

It was also one of the best-kept military secrets in the land, though the reason it'd remained hidden for so long was mostly because of luck than by design. Konoha had detailed maps of every square inch of Fire country and most places beyond since the first reign of the Third Hokage. The maps gave the armies of Fire and Konoha a marked advantage over the other states as they had never given much thought to cartography as a tool of war. Oh sure, they used maps, but none as detailed or as accurate as Leaf's.

But Orochimaru, for all his mania and insanity, was an ex-student of Sarutobi. He grew up immersed in a military culture that understood far better than its opponents, the important role detailed knowledge of the terrain in the AO. And at one time, when he was he one of the most trusted of the Hokage's subordinates, he was privy to all but a handful of Konoha's secrets. Thus, he knew of the secret, naturally occurring watering hole hidden in Forest 2177 depths.

Since Orochimaru's defection, ANBU HQ had always assumed that the qualitative lead Konoha enjoyed for several decades in the area of maps was lost even when its opponents and competitors made the same stupid use of terrain outside their own lands as they always had. The question, for the Office of Hokage, had always been when and not if Orochimaru would use his knowledge against his former homeland. That time, it'd been clear since the unraveling of the Oto-Suna-Tea conspiracy, was now.

With dozens of similar hard to access but secure hidey-holes peppered across Fire country, many of which were created for that express purpose by Konoha itself, the question once the snake sannin's conspiracy was unraveled had always been which of the many likely spots, the invaders would use for the raid. HQ had narrowed the list down to less than a dozen of the biggest ones from intelligence gathered about the supply trains, but with everything else going on at ANBU right now, staking all those spots was beyond their capacity. There was also the fact that there would be advance parties of the opposition's ANBU guarding the approaches of the locations themselves and nobody wanted to risk a Leaf shinobi falling into enemy hands while scouting the terrain. But now, Soryuu would carry the confirmed identity of one of the staging points – the largest of them all for the watering hole at Forest 2177 was the biggest one - and the rookie captain had no doubt in his mind that the main detachment of the enemy's forces headed for the spot was going to be buggered.

xxxxx

Sarutobi closed the report with his withered hands and looked up at Ibiki. He did not look pleased.

"I would have you explain this failure to me in simple terms."

Ibiki grimaced inwardly. The Hokage was angry. This was not going to be pleasant session. But then, after reading that report, what commander wouldn't be?

"We know who carried out the assassination, Hokage-sama," he said, summarizing the report, "The hit on Chuunin Mizuki was carried out by one of The Contemptibles, but we've been unable to trace the order beyond that point."

"And that is precisely the point that I'm trying to understand," the Hokage retorted. "Each of the black cells has one control, Ibiki. It's pretty simple to follow up that control's chain of command until you find the guilty party."

"But there's almost no direct contact between the control and the cell, Hokage-sama," the Jounin replied. "There are only drop points and somehow, someone knew this cell's designated drop point. We didn't realize it earlier and by the time we did, the trail was cold. However, we were able to confirm the hit was ordered by someone outside the chain of authority."

The Hokage slumped. Given the nature of the unit that was compromised – it was easily the blackest of the black wet-work units in Konoha – the breach of security that particular revelation signified was easily the stuff of nightmares. Someone, somewhere had hoodwinked everyone and breached the veil of secrecy on some of the most clandestine units in the Konoha Ninja Corps.

"That is grave news."

"The order was destroyed as per protocol by the assassin, but we confirmed that it had all the proper authentication codes as well as the seal of your office. It was written on your letterhead. We investigated the possibility that a sheaf was stolen during manufacturing, but the records check out. One of your letterheads had one page missing, however. That is perhaps the only good news out of this whole affair."

Sarutobi nodded in relief. While it was still possible that some foreign agency had penetrated Konoha security so thoroughly – paranoia was the name of the game in the world of intelligence, after all – it was far-fetched enough that they could discard it. But it weren't an outside outfit acting the fool, it some faction within Leaf must have done the deed. Not that it made much sense for anyone within Leaf to use The Contemptibles to assassinate someone like Mizuki, but no self-respecting agency would steal a single leaf of paper from the Hokage's letterhead, fake his seal and then compromise the biggest intelligent coup of the century to eliminate an useless pissant like the dead chuunin. Even still, having covert operations penetrated by some splinter group inside the village working at odds with the Office of Hokage was unbearable.

"It'd appear we have lots of rats in the closet, Ibiki."

"Yes, Hokage-sama. We suspect Root, but without solid proof…"

"I suppose that this more than anything else that's happened in the last few months, highlights the necessity for a complete overhaul of our security setup as well as rigorous unit-wise audits to ensure compliance. Institute security reviews, Ibiki. Rework procedures and update authentication processes. Delegate as needed within your unit. I want this done ASAP."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"And order that compromised assassin back from her post. We'll get her a desk job, or make her an advisor or something else on the field."

Ibiki nodded and rose from his seat, the meeting apparently at an end. Sarutobi took a drag from his pipe and thought about ordering his existing letterheads destroyed and a new one made, but thought better of it.

"Ibiki, are we sure that only one leaf was stolen?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Thank you. That'll be all."

xxxxx

Danzo looked on passively as two of his subordinates dragged the body of the incompetent bastard who'd thrown a wrench into so many half-ripe plans away. His men were supposed to be emotionless but effective soldiers, and not brainless with no capacity for independent thought like this particular despicable specimen of Root. Or maybe the man was guilty of too much independent thought and that was his crime?

Danzo did not really care. He expected his soldiers to expand on his orders and carry them out in the most effective manner possible. He certainly did not expend a considerable part of Konoha's covert budget training them so that they could interpret a casual comment that couldn't, in any way, be misconstrued as a lawful order as one. Even worse was the fact that the imbecile had acted on it independently and with no regard for the ramifications his actions would have on the big picture. In the end, he had compromised Root's greatest intelligence coup within Konoha to date. And all for the sake of a known traitor whose execution was already ordered by Sarutobi and scheduled on the day of the Chuunin Finals.

Now, because of one stupid, son of a syphilitic whore, Sarutobi would know that his own little black corps of assassins tucked away all over the elemental lands was compromised. The knowledge was sure to alert him to Danzo's maneuvering – there was no one else within Konoha with the wherewithal to pull off something like this – and make the wily, old codger wary henceforth. As a direct effect, it was also going to be infinitely harder to bring him down when the time came. Whatever one said about the Third's pacifist nonsense, the man was deadly on any field of battle, be it political or on the field.

xxxxx

"Hey, Kakashi, how're your students coming along?" Asuma asked, sighting the fellow jounin as he stepped into the teahouse.

Kakashi smiled cheekily from behind his mask. He'd been waiting all day for someone to ask that question and he had the wittiest comeback.

"You'll find out yourself at the finals."

Asuma chuckled, but then the jounin laughed at pretty much anything. So maybe it wasn't all that funny a reply, after all.

"You're working them that hard, huh?"

That was information Kakashi wasn't going to share. Not even with the Hokage, much less with his colleagues.

"No comments, Asuma. I don't ask you about your Nara and you don't ask about my cherubs."

The younger Sarutobi snorted at the mental image of Team 7 dressed as innocent babes. Ino still flinched whenever idle talk drifted to Kakashi and his team.

"Oh, ease up, Kakashi. I'm not trying to undermine yours."

Kakashi nodded.

"I know, but it's better this way. There'd always be the temptation to share once you know."

Asuma granted the Hatake that point. It was true, after all.

"How's Sasuke?" he asked.

Kakashi frowned.

"Not safe," he answered, looking very concerned. "Orochimaru marked him and I'm afraid the snake'd come back for him during the finals."

Asuma sat up a little straighter.

"You think so?"

"I know so. That bastard could never keep his hands out of the cookie jar."

Asuma shoved down the urge to grimace.

"True. You know, I'd wondered along the same lines, but the Hokage's been silent on the topic and I thought…"

Kakashi nodded, acknowledging the silent message.

"Yeah. But they're my students, you know. I worry."

"Well, here's hoping the bastard doesn't show up," Asuma toasted.

Later that night, as Asuma left the bar, Kakashi followed the other jounin's departing form in satisfaction. The Hokage's son wasn't a gossip so he would keep their conversation to himself, unlike one of the jounin who'd been sitting close enough to overhear the Hatake. Which was another reason why Kakashi chose Asuma earlier in the evening. Now, their silent interloper would go around spreading the gist of the talk he'd overheard. No one would admit to believing him, but they'd listen to him nonetheless because that's what shinobi did.

Hopefully, more than a few would consider the topic carefully and make the right decision. It wasn't the best solution, but it wouldn't get him before a shinobi jury for revealing national secrets and it would give ninja with brains a fighting chance. And that was enough for Kakashi.

xxxxx

"There you go," Tsunade said, placing a metallic cylinder on the desk. "It's done."

The Director of Medic Corps looked at the container in amazement. After the delays to the project that Tsunade herself had caused earlier in the month, he hadn't really expected to meet the tight deadline and had conveyed the same to his superiors. But he hadn't accounted for the meeting the sannin had with the Hokage. Whatever the old man said or did, it must have done a world of good because the Senju went from 'pain in the ass, loser' to 'self-motivated, go-getter' overnight. She worked on the project as if she were possessed and had somehow managed the impossible by completing it early. Now he understood why the old-timers called the legendary three miracle workers because that's what they regularly did.

"Thanks, Tsunade-sama," he said.

"I still can't figure out why you would want such a large batch of the cocktail," she replied with a grimace, "but I'm not being paid to make guesses here. You tell me what else you need and I'll do it."

The Director nodded. That was just as well. His instructions were clear. Tsunade was to be shielded from classified information of any sort. She could work on sensitive projects, but only so long the data she'd have in her hands was incomplete and inadequate to draw any conclusion, which in this case, it was.

"On that vein, is there anything else that you need?" the sannin asked.

"Not at the moment, Tsunade-sama, though I was hoping you'd do me a favor."

"Oh?"

The Director smiled.

"Yes. It'd be great if you'd write the textbooks for some of the advanced medical subjects as consulting material for and coming shinobi."

"I can do that."

"And if it isn't a bother, I was wondering if you'd document your esoteric techniques, practical observations and such as well. The information would be highly confidential and wouldn't be available to just anyone, of course. But it's knowledge and as a fellow scholar, I'm sure you understand the need to preserve it for posterity's sake."

"Of course," Tsunade agreed, but her thoughts were elsewhere.

The Director was good for a civilian at dissembling information, but he had not the skill to hide subtle clues from a seasoned shinobi. His flitting eyes told her the man was lying. But she was on thin ground, she knew and she had to cooperate.

Not because she feared for her life – though that was also part of the reason – but she wanted to see if it was possible to live the life her brother and her fiancé lived and died. If she could not, then be damned to Sarutobi and his village. She was one of the legendary three and she would damn well get out or die trying.

xxxxx

"There are four encampments, here, here, here and here," ANBU Intelligence head pointed on the tactical map. "The strengths and dispositions are on the reports."

ANBU Operations head turned to Danzo who nodded. Since the ninja groups were going to be made completely of men from their departments, they were going to be in charge of the actual execution.

"We've read the reports," he said.

"Good," Sarutobi said. "We'll leave the force on the left flank pass unmolested. They're large enough that we can claim sufficient provocation for war and it'll give us the numbers to crush the other three utterly."

"Show no mercy. Hunt them all down and kill them. Execute those who surrendered after the battle. We want to crush our enemies," Koharu added.

"We expect some civilian casualties and damage to infrastructure, but the activated reserves and the regulars should be up to the job," ANBU Operations head told his listeners.

"We'll herd them into the old Uchiha compound, set it on fire and pound them for good measure," the head of Reserves added.

ANBU Operations nodded in agreement.

"Massive collateral and excellent propaganda."

"Yes."

"Sealed orders to Kakashi, Gai and a few other trusted Jounin on the morning of the exams," Sarutobi said, handing over several packets to ANBU Intelligence. "Ensure that it's delivered to them on time."

"Any questions?"

There was none.

"Commanders on the ground have the final word. God speed and good hunting! Long live the Will of Fire!"

"Long live Konoha!"

xxxxx

Author's notes:

I know you're cursing me because the chapter's a month late and there's no Team 7 in there anywhere. I can only say, I was busy with real life and Team 7 weren't necessary for this chapter. They'll have roles in the next chapter, I promise! LOL

Anyways, the last of the chess pieces are on the board. Next chapter, checkmate!

Do leave reviews.


	12. Fight! Grilled Snake, Terrible Taste

The Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 11: Fight! Grilled Snake, Terrible Taste

Disclaimer: Say it isn't so!

The caravan halted two miles from Forest 2177. As the 'crew' rushed about the task of securing the mules, setting up camp, getting the camp fire started and the numerous other things that needed to be done, the ostensible civilian leader of the expedition looked towards the woods on the right. The dark, thick forest looked quite forbidding in the evening twilight.

"We move at one tomorrow morning and hit the bastards at four-thirty. Make sure the men are wearing armor under their clothes tonight," Shark, the leader said, staring at the terrain for tomorrow's battle long and hard. The edge of the woodland was about an hour away for a unit marching in the dark, but it'd take another two hours moving silently to reach the enemy camp.

"Full load, Commander?" the XO asked.

The leader shook his head.

"Full load of shuriken and other expendables, Squirrel. Leave everything else behind except armor, weapons, water and a high energy ration pack per man. We'll breakfast on the march. We'll also take a single team of medics with us into the forest. The men will piggyback the heavy equipment on a rotating basis. The rest of the medics will set up here. Detail squads 3 and 4 to their security."

Squirrel nodded thoughtfully.

"Who should take point?"

"The Hunter-nin. They're more experienced at this kind of quiet work in the dark than the rest of the force."

"Order of battle as per plan?"

"Yes. Let's not make too many changes on the eve of the battle. Have the team leaders spread around and talk to the men. Give them motivational speeches and whatnot."

"You aren't going to, Sir?"

"Oh, we are, Squirrel," Shark corrected, "we are."

xxxxx

At around twelve that very night, Kabuto stared at the report before him in the security of his room. It did not make sense. It was less than two days to the finals and Konoha was frenzied with activity, as expected. However, the eve of the exams was no time to move medical inventory caches when foreign shinobi were around to observe and report back on their locations to their village. It made even less sense to move them to the vicinity of the ruins of the Uchiha clan. But that was exactly what was being done by the Medic Corps.

_Furthermore,_ Kabuto thought, _the Office of Hokage hadn't reacted at all to quell those pernicious rumors that started about a week back about Orochimaru-sama making another appearance during the finals._ Kabuto's former classmates had drawn his attention to it twice so far.

None of the facts available on hand made sense. The subtle positioning of highly reliable, battle hardened and decorated ANBU squadrons on the walls, the movement of caches, the Hokage's verifiable apathy…

Something didn't smell right and if Kabuto didn't know about the ANBU detachments dispatched to cater to the whims of the Daimyo – the traitorous genin made a mental note to have his mentor thank the foolish ruler for weakening Konoha so after they burned the village to the ground – he would have thought that the Leaf was preparing for a battle within the city.

_Or maybe,_ realization dawned on the treasonous medic nin as he probed the problem further, _they were._ The idea was far-fetched and neither Kabuto nor Orochimaru had ever given it any serious thought, but what if Konoha was aware of the Oto-Suna conspiracy from the very beginning? And what if the Daimyo was in the know and made the request for ANBU so that Leaf could mobilize its reserves without raising suspicion, thus freeing up the active ANBU units for what they did best? Attack the enemy as only the best shock troops in the whole world can.

Kabuto stood up. He was not shaken, but he was less sure of his mentor's grandiose plans than he had been only a few minutes earlier. He would discuss this with Orochimaru-sama, but only after sending couriers to the individual camps to ascertain the status on the ground. For if he was right, they had precious little time in their hands before the shit well and truly hit the fan.

xxxxx

The march had taken place in relative quiet – asking for complete silence from four companies of armed men in the dark was the height of stupidity. Finally, when the Konoha assault force was less than three hundred meters from the enemy camp, Shark ordered a brief halt for a final breather and to give his lieutenants time to organize their troops. The assault, when it came, would be all the more effective for the organization.

Normally, the veteran commander wouldn't have dared act in such a manner during any operation – much less one so critical to Konoha's safety as the current one – where achieving complete tactical surprise was so critical to success, but he'd received word from the vanguard earlier that gave him the confidence. The hunter-nin had successfully entrapped the enemy sentries – both the ones holding static posts and on patrol - on the camp perimeter in genjutsus and thus, neutralized the enemy perimeter. Total surprise was Konoha's and damned the Leaf Ninja Corps would be if Shark and his men did not use it to full effect.

The hunter-nin took out the innermost ring of sentries in the camp first. Their victims were garroted and knifed, pin cushioned with senbon, or had their spines half-severed by the throwing axes that some of the ANBU and their hunter-nin brethren preferred. One after other, the guards fell with nary a sound.

But one thing that could always be trusted to happen on the field was for something to go wrong. Fortunately, the genjutsus had been so skillfully applied that the sentries were really lost to the world.

So, even the lone hunter-nin who missed his quarry completely because the man turned away at the last instant got a second chance to take out his target. No one who witnessed the botched kill had any doubt that the hunter-nin would be the butt of jokes from his cellmates for months to come. Still, they were all silently glad for small mercies. It would have made for a very bloody and terrifying battle in the dark if someone had raised the alarm, after all.

xxxxx

Once the hunter-nin signaled the successful elimination of the last of the perimeter guards, the companies stealthily moved into assault positions under the guidance of their commanders. Hidden by the shadows cast by healthy branches that provided the overhead cover under the starlit sky, they waited silently as seconds ticked by and the minute hand swung ever closer to the agreed upon time for the attack.

At T-minus fifteen seconds, the company commanders swung their arms down as one and every third man stepped out of the tree line. They clutched in their hands little spheres. These weapons were Konoha's latest innovation in the battlefield. They'd been developed only months earlier by an ANBU recovering at the hospital after a mission gone south, which was one reason why there weren't that many of the devices to go around.

At T-minus ten, the exposed men formed seals with their free hands and activated the exploding seals within the spheres.

At T-minus five, they ran three paces and lobbed the bombs as they'd been trained at the sleeping forms of the enemy.

Well, all but one did. The lone exception caught his foot on an exposed root and fell down. As a result, when all the volunteers hit the ground – just to be on the safe side – so did everyone within many meters of the slipee.

This action took three seconds.

Simultaneously, as the spheres reached the apex of their brief flight, the remaining hidden Konoha shinobi slid into ready to sprint positions to charge the enemy – the bodies and the doubtless naked weapons on the ground between them and the enemy be damned. Archers – those ninja specially designated for the purpose – shot flare arrows set on delay seals high into the sky. Those would hang in the air for several minutes and provide the minimum necessary illumination for the attack.

The spherical grenades – little more than tightly bound masses of wire wrapped around a core of four special explosive seals padded by cotton – exploded.

Some burst in the air and some on the ground. A few even bounced off the bodies of slumbering enemies before exploding. One unwary shinobi was hit on his crotch and another on his head. In both cases, the unfortunate victims died. The former because the bomb exploded as it bounced off the newly neutered man's crotch, and the latter because the hit crushed its victim's skull even before it exploded.

xxxxx

The wannabe invaders inside the camp proper numbered more than three hundred.

With one exception – and that too an officer who was writing up a report in his tent – they were all asleep when the bombs went off. But three hundred men need a lot of space to sleep, even lying side by side, which the enemy was not.

They were spread out in squads over a large area.

However, each of the grenades had a kill radius of ten meters. And there were a lot of grenades.

Not enough to saturate the whole clearing, of course, but even if there were, no one could lob them that far anyways. But there was more than enough to decimate the ranks of shinobi closest to the tree line.

Supersonic fragments of red-hot wire from the explosions mowed down whole squads, slicing through armor as if it were tissue paper and drilling deep into the flesh underneath. Men who'd been asleep only moments before woke screaming as the pain of torn bodies and lost appendages registered through the fog of sleep.

The tents farthest from the Konoha troops – the ones untouched by the rain of explosions – burst open even as the clap of the last explosion resonated through the clearing. The troops inside those tents may have been caught by surprise, but they reacted as only experienced, well-drilled soldiers can and dozens upon dozens of half-dressed men spewed out into the cold early morning air. Unfortunately for them, their emergence from the tents coincided with the ignition of the flares, which went off with bright flashes in the sky.

For one regrettable instant, the men's subconscious rode roughshod over their training and their eyes were drawn to the bright lights against their will.

As mistakes happen, it was a fairly minor one. It was a testament to the enemy's training that their conscious minds almost resisted the urgings of their subconscious. However, that one mistake, be it so small, was a deadly one when compounded by their otherwise almost perfect reaction in this context. After all, more battles are won or lost by things that almost went one way but did not.

xxxxx

Earlier, on the Konoha side, after quietly breaching the camp perimeter, Shark had ordered the commander of the hunter-nin vanguard to the enemy's rear as a blocking force. Now, however, seeing the chaos in the enemy ranks, the hunter-nin commander sensed a great opportunity. The wannabe invaders were disoriented and an attack from the rear would throw them into further disarray. If she and her men could hold the enemy's attention a few seconds before the main body of the Konoha force fell on them, the effects would be devastating, both in terms of casualties and its impact on the enemy's morale.

Why, if the coming blow was powerful enough – and with Shark wielding the hammer, she had no reason to doubt it wouldn't be – it could quite possibly destroy the enemy's confidence and shatter them, turning the battle into a rout!

"Hunter-nin rule!" she screamed the hunter-nin motto at her men as a impromptu war cry – while it pricked her sense of professionalism to shout what was in effect a warning to the enemy, she could not risk any hesitation or delay from her men in following her lead or her plan was shot – unleashing a powerful karyu endan at the center of the enemy mass. She chose the fire dragon technique for though it wasn't quite as effective as those new-fangled infernal grenades, fire is unparalleled as a psychological weapon.

As men scattered, their eyes drawn to their comrades who were even now burning to death, the other hunter-nin shot their own flame attacks and rushed the invaders, charging against better than fifteen to one odds. Not all of the enemy were immobilized by the human torches, however and the ones that weren't retaliated with powerful elemental attacks. Lightning streaked, flames flared and water shot through the air and five of the hunter-nin went down before the survivors of the charge smashed into the ranks of the enemy.

Two more died within the next half a dozen seconds, struck down by multiple blows from various opponents. The last few bleeding survivors clumped together to guard each other's backs, but as the enemy made to close in and kill them, Shark's force fell on the foreign nin from their other rear.

xxxxx

Konoha's charge did not go completely unnoticed, but archers on the flanks seized the opportunity and shot many of the enemy who reacted to the latest and greatest threat.

A trained shinobi bereft of a sword or a staff could usually block half a dozen arrows under perfect conditions. With a staff, they could even erect an impenetrable barrier. But a battlefield at night echoing with the screams of the wounded and the dying, the cries of despair from the losers, and the wordless exhortations of victors is hardly optimal terrain.

It took an exceptional ninja to stop even a single arrow in the midst of such chaos – a fact that the archers capitalized on – but as it happened, there were two among those that responded to Konoha's charge. Both fell before they could warn their comrades, suffering bad cases of instant death from ninjato through their heart, however. They were the victims of Konoha ANBU who'd braved the hail of arrows and risked their lives to buy their comrades a few more precious seconds. One of the ANBU assailants was hit in the shoulder by an arrow meant for his victim and went down with his prey in a bad fall that literally tore his shoulder apart and bled him out within minutes.

Still, the brave actions of those two ANBU and the hunter-nin charge bought Shark and his men the time they needed to close ranks with the enemy. Shark himself led from the front, stabbing three who had their backs turned to him before he lost his sword lodged into the third one's spine. He made no attempt to rescue the blade, however, grabbing hold of one of his kunai and stabbing a fourth one, who had somehow reacted in time to block against another ANBU's sword strike, in the neck. The unknown ninja fell down gurgling.

His immediate area clear, Shark took a moment to look around. Everywhere within eyesight, dozens fell as ANBU made mincemeat of opponents who had their backs turned to them. The pace of battle was too fast and the enemy too close for any of the enemy officers to establish order – especially since anyone who tried to rally the surviving invaders was singled out for elimination – or the men to resist effectively.

Within a minute, the survivors lost whatever fight they had. Many put up their hands in surrender, but a few tried to escape or were too blinded by panic to think straight and tried to flee in a rout. All the runners were shot down by arrows or hunted down by the ANBU stationed on the flanks before they got far.

And just like that, it was over. The battle had lasted less than fifteen minutes, if one counted the elimination of the sentries, less than two of which involved fighting and the rest movement. For most of the men under Shark's command, it was more akin to a pigeon shoot than anything else, a fact that the grizzled veterans in the units were forever thankful for.

Shark allowed himself a smile savoring the win as he wiped his kunai and retrieved his sword. It was as good a victory as he'd ever dreamed. Better even, as he'd only lost a few men dead or wounded in the melee.

When Shark finally looked around after cleaning and sheathing his sword, he saw that his lieutenants were already setting up perimeter security, organizing hunting parties to bring down the few strays that'd escaped and litters for the wounded, and securing the POWs. Making his way around, he wondered how the battle would have turned out without a competent command or without such brave shinobi to fight under him. Badly, he was sure.

"It was a sweet battle, Sir!" one of the ANBU in Shark's path said.

Shark nodded. It was indeed, as battles where you got to kick the shit out of the other guy often were.

"With brave men like you," he said in a loud voice full of braggadocio for the benefit of all ANBU within hearing range, waving generally at the clearing, "it'd take better men than weak pussies from Suna and Oto to give us a good fight."

The men cheered.

Shark smiled and waved gallantly at them.

"We routed them, Boys. The best that two villages had to offer and we whupped them good. But our job isn't done yet. Secure the prisoners and attend to the wounded. Don't slack off on security now that we've crossed the biggest hurdle. We'll have plenty of time for booze and pussy when we get home. All of you will get your combat bonus and a pat on the back for a job well done. Till then, stand firm and do your duty. Dismissed."

There was a bigger cheer this time – because of the bonus and the prospect of getting laid – and not merely from the clump of men nearest to the ANBU commander. Shark nodded at them and at Squirrel, who'd made his approach in the middle of the speech. The men drifted back to their work.

"Everything's in hand, Sir," Squirrel reported, "Or will be pretty soon. The last of the POWs will be trussed up in a wee while."

"Perimeter security?"

"We're working on it. Queer is working on the patrol roster even as we speak to better use the manpower we have."

"Who was the hardest hit?"

"The hunter-nin blocking force. Practically none from the main force except for a few walking wounded here and there, and those were mostly blue on blue. Once we were at their neck, they couldn't use any of the heavy ninjutsu and there were very few casualties in the main attack."

"Our intelligence indicated the invaders would mostly be made of shinobi from the regular forces. They aren't accustomed to the shock tactics we favor."

"We got off lightly even still. Thank God we got the goddamned Suna shinobi contingent with the grenades. The ones at the far end were the Oto fuckers."

"Yes, we did," Shark acknowledged. He was glad they'd caught the Suna ninja with their pants down. He'd fought them once in a pitched battle during the Yondaime's time and had the scars to remember. The Hidden Sand bastards were tough comers. "We'd better get to work. Do I dare spare the time to meet the wounded now?"

"You can, Sir."

Still, Shark hesitated. It felt wrong to not be out there, issuing commands to bring order to the post-battle confusion. But that's what happens when you have competent subordinates who knew their job. Ultimately, he decided he would stay out and not muddle things. There wasn't anything he could spot that needed his attention anyways. And even if there was, he'd learnt in the months he'd worked with his command team that they were confident enough to ask for help without hesitation when they needed it.

xxxxx

Flanked by Squirrel sometime later, Shark faced the survivors of the hunter-nin whose bravery and sacrifice had saved so many lives. Three lived of the original twelve.

"Whose idea was it?" he asked out of curiosity.

"Our CO," one of the survivors said shifting in his seat, wincing at the pain the slight movement brought him.

Another pointed at a badly mutilated body of their dead leader laid out horizontally on the ground nearby. There were four great wounds on her body, any of which would have been fatal without immediate medical attention, of which there was none.

"She was brave. You saved a lot of lives today," Shark said.

The hunter-nin shrugged.

"I don't think it makes a difference to her. She's dead as dead can be," he sighed regretfully at the loss. The woman had been a good leader and a fine hunter-nin. Then, straightening, "Thank you, Sir! We were only doing our duty."

Shark nodded.

"I'm putting all your names for commendation. The names of your dead go on the memorial stone.

"Bear the discomfort for a little while longer, Boys. The litter bearers should be back from their runs any minute now."

"We can fight, Sir!" one of the hunter-nin objected.

"I have no doubt," Shark agreed with the man, "but I have no lack of bodies today. Certainly more than enough to complete the other aspects of the mission. Be at ease that no one would question your bravery or your comrades. Not after today, anyhow."

The hunter-nin nodded and leaned back against the trunk he'd been using as a prop to remain seated. For all his bravado, he man had a stab wound in his leg and the bandage on his head was soaked with blood.

Shark met his gaze for a second more and with a profound nod of respect turned away to the other task that needed doing. Squirrel dutifully followed his commander to the POWs.

xxxxx

Kabuto sent four couriers on his fact-finding mission. One for each of the troop staging areas.

Of the four, only the courier headed for the staging area on the left flank made it to his objective. The other three did not. Two never saw another sunrise again.

The courier for Forest 2177 ran as fast as his experienced legs could take him through the dark. He took insane risks in the discharge of his duty and having taken but two breaks in the course of the long run, was at the end of his reserves by the time he neared his destination. He knew he'd need at least an hour to recoup his reserves for the run back once he made contact with the main body of the Oto-Suna combined force.

The courier spotted the Konoha ANBU before the other spotted him. There were three ANBU and they were trotting, bearing a litter for one of their wounded comrades.

The sight of the Konoha nin brought the courier to a grinding halt. He didn't panic exactly, but he made a stupid decision. Instead of continuing on under his present heading for a little while and then circling around, he instantly tried to turn and run back the way he'd come.

Not five steps on, the courier's foot found a depression and he crashed noisily on the nearby brush. Most unfortunately for him, the ANBU heard his fall.

The courier was as good as dead from that point. Not only was his pursuer a Hyuuga whose eyes worked equally well night or day, he was also mostly fresh. The courier had neither night vision nor the stamina to run for long, being as he was, mostly exhausted.

Less than a minute into the chase, the courier was hit by three shuriken meant to cripple him and fell down. The ANBU fully intended to interrogate the man and find out all he knew. Luckily for the courier – for it'd have been torture and lots of it if he'd been caught alive – he broke his skull against a half-buried rock in the nasty fall. He never regained consciousness and slipped into a final coma minutes later.

The other unlucky courier did not fall prey to ANBU. His fate was far more mundane. Straying off the beaten path, he stepped over a log and got bitten by a viper less than an hour from Konoha. In the dark, he mistook the bite for a scratch. By the time he realized something was wrong, he was too far from civilization. He tried to make for the merchant trail, but failed. His body was not found until after the exams.

The last courier was detained by a suspicious chuunin manning the East Gate on the wall. They put him in a cell right enough, but because it was such a busy time for the whole village, police HQ decreed that they could not be bothered and pointed their fingers at ANBU Torture and Interrogation, who pointed right back at the cops.

In the end, after a set to with ANBU Torture and Interrogation, an irritated HQ sent a single detective to question the suspect. The detective was irked himself, having been called away from a fine lunch. He was in an even bigger hurry to get back and so, around three in the afternoon, the courier found himself out on the streets. A whole night and half a day spent fretting about all the horrible torture that the ANBU would no doubt inflict on his person was wasted.

Still, as afraid as the courier was of Konoha ANBU, Kabuto, the sadist, frightened him a whole lot more. Fearing for his life for failing his assigned duty, he made his way to Orochimaru's gentle seeming right hand as soon as he was released.

xxxxx

The dead were sealed for transport and ANBU had borne some of the wounded enemy nin for 'treatment.'

Shark looked at the POWs squatting glumly before him in a rough circle under the watchful eyes of his ANBU. He supposed he should feel sorry for these men who'd been led astray by their commanders, but they were invaders in his country. He had to judge them by the 'right' perspective as one whose land would have been invaded and family endangered.

Like all his comrades, Shark knew that if Konoha hadn't wised up to Orochimaru's plans, chances were these defeated, forlorn looking men and women would have run amok within the walls of the village, indulging in wanton murder, pillage, rape and arson. In that case, he shuddered to think of the Leaf's plight if her forces hadn't been enough to send the enemy packing.

So, Shark would do unto them as they would have done unto him and his.

"It's been a dry year, Folks," he addressed the crowd, staring one of the few Oto nin who still had fight in them in his eyes, "but this is the Land of Fire. And as its citizens, you should know that we respect the rule of land and expect our people to be law abiding."

Blank looks all around from Oto nin who'd taken their eyes off the ground.

"I know the life of a farmer is hard," Shark continued, "but that's not an excuse."

More blank looks. Shark could read the thoughts running through their minds. _What was the madman raving about?_

"You're all guilty of banding together and preying on the weak and the innocent, knowing Fire does not condone banditry. Thus, it falls upon me to enforce the law as the most senior of the lawfully appointed representatives of the Daimyo present."

Blank looks still, though the gleam of realization and the certainty of their fates dawned on a few Oto nin as did a low moan of despair. Their manacles blocked access to chakra and without it, restrained as they were, there was nothing the surrendered shinobi could do to escape. The POW holding eye contact with Shark was one of them. The Konoha commander did not flinch at the hatred in his eyes. He kept the eye contact even as he uttered the next few words.

"Execute them, Boys!"

Immediately, the ANBU commander designated for the task slammed his hand against the ground and performed a yomi numa on the POWs. As the last of the prisoners, wounded and otherwise, disappeared, he made the necessary seals and closed the impromptu mass grave.

xxxxx

"Kabuto, you worry too much," Orochimaru spoke dismissively upon hearing the latter's misgivings for the second time in less than a day.

Kabuto knew that when Orochimaru made up his mind about something, he rarely changed it. It was one of the quirks of the man. So brilliant in most things and yet, so set in his ways and unwilling to consider he could be wrong. Ever. Normally, Kabuto would give up and let Orochimaru commit his folly before intervening, but this was the Hidden Leaf, the strongest shinobi village in the land. In all probability, they wouldn't make it if the cat was out of the bag and the shit hit the fan.

"Orochimaru-sama, please. Only one of the three runners who made it outside the walls has returned. I fear for operational security."

"You forget your place, _aide,_" Orochimaru replied, his smile morphing into a scowl and reminding his subordinate of his position. Then, with a leer, "If you're right, none of the runners would have been detained. The very fact that one of them was detained – and need I remind you the man was let out of jail after only cursory questioning – tells me your theory is just that. A theory, but with no founding on reality."

Kabuto did not reply.

Seeing his right hand's pout – it wasn't literally a pout but Orochimaru recognized the signs from long association – the sannin decided to climb a few steps notches to mollify Kabuto and win him over.

"Konoha does not know," he said in a reconciliatory voice. "Konoha could not know. I have gone to extraordinary lengths to keep my plans secret, as have you.

"I'm sure that Sarutobi-sensei suspects, but his village is gearing for war against Tea. Do not confuse preparation for that campaign with preparations for us."

Kabuto had his doubts, but he nodded. He didn't think he was mistaken, but it was also true that intelligence networks in neither Suna nor Oto had reported oddities that could support his claims in the months before. For that matter, aside from that rumor making the round neither had he, a 'loyal' genin, but that wasn't incontrovertible evidence either. The crucial information was way over his pay grade, after all. He supposed it was possible that both networks were hopelessly compromised and he'd been played for a fool – the evidence on the ground suggested that was the case – but it could very well be the other way around and he was making a mountain out of a molehill.

But whatever be the case, Kabuto thought with an eerie smile, the die was cast. He knew the risks of the game when he threw his lot with the sannin. Whatever happened, he would see his task through the end.

xxxxx

"Jiraiya," Koharu said neutrally, pointing the sannin to a chair.

Jiraiya made a nod of acknowledgement and claimed his seat. He'd been smuggled into the village with great care in a cart full of rice bushels meant for the finals.

"Sarutobi couldn't meet you. He's busy entertaining the visiting nobles. The fallout from day after tomorrow from their camp is going to be bad," the old advisor elaborated.

"Understandable. I was told that I'd be briefed today."

"And so you shall. We suspect Orochimaru and/or the Kazekage will try to assassinate Sarutobi during the finals. The boy hates his teacher. We've planned accordingly. We believe we're on top of the situation and our contingency plans are sound."

"Heh. So long as we get the rat bastard."

Koharu nodded.

"We think we'll have both Orochimaru and the Kazekage contained," she continued, "but we're concerned about the latter's jinchuuriki son. If the boy were to unleash his demon within the walls of the village…"

"I'll handle him."

"Konoha can handle a jinchuuriki," Koharu replied snidely, "we have the most powerful one of them, after all. And there's also Orochimaru's experiment and the Shodai's legacy. We think he is just as effective as the First against demons. But that's beside the point. We cannot have one of the tailed beasts running amok within the village, Jiraiya."

The toad sannin nodded.

"Even more importantly, it's no longer in Konoha's interests to have the One Tail in Suna's hands. Two weeks from now, the whole world is going to learn of Hidden Sand's greatly weakened state and everyone's going to want a piece of the pie. Before that, we want to secure the biggest slice for ourselves. This is the Hokage's will."

"As the Hokage commands," Jiraiya replied, formulaically. Then, in a less serious voice, "I'll see if I can seal the boy before he channels the beast. If he does, I may have to resort to extreme measures within the stadium."

Koharu did not hesitate at all.

"Of course. We don't care how it's done so long as the jinchuuriki and the demon are neutralized with minimal fuss."

"To tell you the truth, I think the Shodai's legacy is better suited for this duty myself," Jiraiya added, probing for any hint as to what machinations drove the decision to foist the beast on his shoulders.

"So he is, but we want you to do it."

Jiraiya's eyes narrowed slightly. It was clear that Sarutobi and his inner council wanted him to look good before the village. That did not bode good tidings for his favorite pastime and his writing career. If he knew the old coots – and he knew all four pretty well – they were sure to have sent the Shodai's legacy away on some mission or the other so that he could not refuse his out of hand. _Sneaky, underhanded, manipulative old geezers!_

"I suppose the man's out of town," he asked, just to be sure.

Koharu shot him a smile, but given her age, it came out as something truly horrible. It was all the more frightening because it was meant to be a cherubic, "butter wouldn't melt in my mouth" smile.

"Indeed, he is. How did you guess?" she lied through her teeth. The Shodai's legacy was hidden away inside the village near the stadium in case the sannin refused.

Jiraiya groaned inwardly. Yep, the old farts had it in for him.

xxxxx

Fifteen hours to finals…

Tora, the commander of the Oto-Suna force frowned at the dark horizon. There was no sign of the other units that were supposed to rendezvous with his. Still, he wasn't too much worried. He knew the trouble his fellow commanders faced, coordinating between Oto and Suna shinobi. He knew, also, the difficulties in secretly moving such a large troop of men so close to a shinobi village. Even tree-hugger paradise Konoha.

It wouldn't surprise him at all if some of the others didn't make it in time for the assault, busy as the roads to Konoha were so close to the exams. Certainly, there were bound to be Leaf ninja disguised as civilians among the wayfarers. If the Oto-Suna force used the main roads, even split into small groups, the tree-hugger spies would note the disappearance of large numbers of visitors so close to the gates and raise the alarm. That would not do at all.

"There's still a whole night ahead of us. If the others don't show up, I'll just have to scale back the scope of my mission. And write a scathing report to Orochimaru-sama on the issue of punctuality in military operations," he muttered aloud, a wry smile on his face. Of the other three commanders, two were Suna shinobi and one was Tora's foremost political adversary within Oto. He would love to be done with that bastard forever.

xxxxx

When the quality inspector asked to examine the cisterns that fed the stadium, the manager saw no reason to object. There had been constant inspections on everything by the Hokage's special appointees stretching back for more than a month. Nor did he find it strange that the oldster asked for a ladder to check the quality of the water.

After that, it was simply a matter of a skillfully applied genjutsu and the inspector, an ex-ANBU commander, gently retrieved the packages from the seal and with a minor application of ninjutsu, dissolved them in the water, one to a tank.

xxxxx

"Kakashi-san," the ANBU greeted the bleary looking jounin.

Kakashi glared. It was three in the morning and he needed his bloody sleep.

"It'd better be important," he growled.

The ANBU handed a sealed parchment and disappeared. Kakashi closed the door, switched on the light, read the communiqué and like any veteran, promptly went back to sleep. There was still time to get things done and he needed all the sleep he could get for the day ahead.

xxxxx

It was seven in the morning and Team 7 were assembled at their training ground for some last minute instruction from Kakashi. The latter, for the first time in the team's long association with the jounin, was on time. Sakura kept looking up to see if the sky was falling down. Naturally, her teammates found it very funny, though their teacher did not.

"You have two hours before the finals," he told them in a solemn voice. "The three of you have come far in the last month, but there is still a long way to go."

Team 7 glanced at each other and nodded.

"Be on the lookout for trouble," the jounin continued, "I'm concerned about Orochimaru. I'm sure you've heard the rumors making the rounds about him and the finals."

"We've know, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura replied, "and we thank you for your concern."

"But is there any basis to your concerns?" Sasuke asked.

Kakashi did not hesitate for even a fraction of a second. His mind was already made up and it was too late in the game to be much worried about operational security. All pieces were certainly on the board by now and there was little time for Orochimaru and his friends to react.

"Yes, there is. Suna and Oto plan to attack us during the exams," he said, holding up an arm to stall any questions, "We've known this for a while and we've been preparing in secret. You should not repeat this to your friends. I wouldn't tell you, except for the fact that operational prudence requires it."

Naruto noted the reactions of his teammates out of the corner of his eyes. Apparently, they felt the same way he did.

"What are your orders, sensei?" he asked in a flat voice. Attack his home and family, would the foreign bastards? He would see about that.

"Eliminate the enemy finalists. Spare your Konoha brethren if possible.

"My orders to you are as follows: Eliminate the Kazekage's youngest son with prejudice. I don't care if he ends up dead or alive so long as he ceases to be a factor during the attack."

Naruto nodded thoughtfully as he pondered the problem. Then, his face lit up as an idea from one of the innumerable scrolls Kakashi forced him to read hit him.

"Will do, Sensei," he replied, "and I know just the thing to crush the bastard, too."

The jounin nodded.

"One last piece of advice. I most probably won't be there to watch over you. So, remember to stick together and watch each other's backs."

Team 7 smiled collectively. They were family and they would live or die together as one.

"Now, let's to breakfast. I'm famished," Kakashi said.

xxxxx

It looked to be a hot day and most spectators had arrived early to secure the best seats for the day's spectacle. Combined with the raucous celebration and the salty snacks sold by hawkers at a cheap price – the last subsidized heavily by the village for some reason – pretty much everyone who hadn't packed bottles of water before setting out from home had been to the public fountains at least once for a drink or two.

At precisely 9 AM, Jounin Genma, the official referee signaled the doorman to push the massive wooden door open and walked out into the daylight. A hush fell upon the crowd as Genma made his way to the middle of the field with cold, measured, unhurried steps. Once at the center, he threw up his arms and walked a tight circle, his face turned towards the crowd.

"Exalted and Honored Daimyo of Fire Country," he announced, modulating his voice to carry across the stadium, "Kage of Leaf and Kage of Wind, noble guests, fellow citizens and all those who've come from near and far to watch the spectacle of your lifetime, I present you the finals of the Chuunin Exams. I'm Jounin Genma, your host and referee for the next hours as young shinobi from across the nations fight for honor, glory and promotion to Chuunin."

The crowd burst into applause with cheers, whistles and what not. Genma waited for it to die down.

"The first match of the day. Naruto of the Leaf vs. Gaara of the Sand."

xxxxx

The two combatants made their way to the center of the field and faced off against each other.

Gaara glared hatred at the boy before him. Mother whispered in his head about how yearned for this Naruto's blood, and how she couldn't wait to embrace him and deliver his bloody pulp into death's loving hands.

Silence descended upon the ground as Genma intentionally delayed announcing the start of the match to build anticipation among the spectators. In the meanwhile, the two jinchuuriki stared each other in the eye. Gaara's promised death and Naruto's held nothing.

Genma announced the start of the match with a piercing cry.

Naruto moved.

Gaara stood passively, his sand swirling madness around him as Naruto the fool charged him headfirst at a jog. Mother would grab the blonde bag of flesh and blood and crush him like a puny insect. She would paint the ground crimson.

As if sensing Mother's mood and her terrible purpose, a flight of birds screeched to the right, raising an unholy racket.

Gaara turned towards the birds. He wanted to see them. He knew for certain that mother would handle the blonde all on her own. He needn't bother paying any attention to his opponent.

Naruto took that moment to shift into high gear.

Gaara caught a bright flash of bright light and crackling arcs of actinic streaking towards him at blinding speed. The world went mad.

xxxxx

Baki watched the whole event unfold before his eyes with morbid interest.

One second, Gaara's opponent was charging headfirst into certain death. The very next, there was another copy of him straddling the enclosure with summoned lightning in his hands.

Kakashi's infamous raikiri, the lightning cutter.

But the raikiri is an imperfect tool if you wanted to surprise someone. For one thing, it was unbelievably loud. For another, it had an enormous appetite for chakra and could eat through the largest reserves with terrifying ease. Finally, the user had to be superfast to use it effectively or its standoff distance became very limited.

Baki hoped for just a moment that the Konoha genin had made a mistake. True, Gaara and his sand had a weakness against lightning based attacks, but his involuntary defense mechanism's reaction speed was inhumanly fast as many a wannabe assassin sent by the Kazekage had discovered before.

Only, Kakashi's student did not give Gaara time to even register his presence before he attacked. Gaara's sand did react, but then, as Baki and everyone else in the stadium discovered, the Kazekage's son had never been the boy's target.

The real target wasn't even the disintegrating propane tank, which surprise! yet another Naruto swapped with the first one inside the stadium, who'd incidentally closed the distance with Gaara.

xxxxx

The cylinder had fourteen kilograms of liquid propane. Naruto had applied a fast acting seal once favored by ANBU for making entries during missions. The seal worked by weakening the molecular bonds of crystals, making designated points vulnerable to forced entry. It was mostly useless in the modern world, however, and fallen into disuse since it was easily shielded against with cheap counter seals.

The cylinder under question did not have the counters. A fraction of a second after the kawarimi and about a second after Naruto activated it, the cylinder blew apart, unable to contain the propane under high pressure any longer as its structural integrity went the way of the Dodo.

Instantly, the area near Gaara was saturated with high inflammable propane. The scene was set for a fuel-air explosion and Naruto supplied the final ingredient with his raikiri.

The resultant explosion was a piece of hell on earth. Naruto's clone was carbonized instantly. Gaara's sand, which had protected him from other explosions set off by his father's assassins before, failed miserably against the longer duration overpressure and heat impulse. The Kazekage's son was thrown violently through the air. He pin wheeled against the ground multiple times without the benefit of the protection offered by his sand shroud and slammed hard against the hard granite wall of the enclosure. He fell, coughing blood and bleeding from his ears, and did not get on his feet for many seconds. Even when he did, he staggered as if he were punch-drunk from a concussion and promptly vomited his breakfast.

xxxxx

Jounin Genma, who'd been spared having his innards liquefied only because yet another of Naruto's clones switched places with a kawarimi, jumped back into the arena as soon as the rain of debris from the explosion stopped. The crowd watched him expectantly from the edge of their seats. Absolute silence reigned.

Genma looked at Gaara, whose sand whipped hither and thither like a drunk. The boy was clearly unable to continue the fight. He then turned to the Uzumaki, who'd also joined the referee on the field. The best thing, as far as the jounin was concerned, was that Naruto looked ready to finish what he'd started – though he was clearly surprised that his opponent survived that holocaust – and was holding back only out of respect for the referee.

Genma shook his head, a wry smile etched on his face and shot a look of profound respect towards the Leaf genin. The ruthlessness, foresight and pre-meditation in that cold-blooded assassination attempt – his actions could be classified as nothing else – was worthy of an experienced ANBU and exemplified the best traditions of the group. The boy was a credit to his mentor, ex-ANBU Commander Hatake Kakashi and to the village, and the jounin had no doubt he would go far as a shinobi.

"Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!"

And the crowd burst into applause.

xxxxx

"A startling upset, Kazekage-sama," Sarutobi said with a shake of his head.

Orochimaru, masquerading as the Kazekage, blinked. He'd thought the boy was coldblooded in the forest, but that little demonstration just now was something else. The sannin could only hope that the boy rubbed off some of his magic on his teammates before they came looking for him. Why, with shinobi like that, he'd brush aside the Akatsuki like the irritating insects they are!

"Yes, very," he answered absentmindedly.

Sarutobi smiled wryly.

"Naruto-kun is one of our most promising up and coming shinobi," he explained, reaching over for the clay jug and pouring out a glass of refreshingly cold water. He took a sip and sighed. _Yep, clay jugs make for the best water!_

Orochimaru, who'd been waiting all day for the Hokage to take the first sip, helped himself to a glass as well. It fit the late Kazekage's reputation for paranoia to have his host drink first and 'verify' the water was untainted.

xxxxx

Kabuto, hidden under the robes of a very unfortunate ANBU, shook his head softly. No one – not even him – had expected the Suna jinchuuriki to be taken out so easily. In less than a minute, Uzumaki Naruto, the self-proclaimed number one prankster and most unpredictable ninja in Konoha, had taken out Orochimaru-sama's trump card for the coming battle within the village walls and thrown the biggest monkey wrench ever into the invasion plans.

_Today's going to be a very interesting day. And that's if everything goes according to plan._

Kabuto did not even wonder about what'd happen if something else went south with the mission. The consequences did not bear thinking.

xxxxx

Naruto walked into the balcony with a huge smile on his face. He promptly high-fived Sasuke and Sakura. His teammates were just as exultant as he was at his victory. The Suna siblings stared at Team 7 and especially Naruto with no little amount of fear in their eyes. Because he was feeling especially playful, the Uzumaki pointed at the Kazekage's next son, pantomimed a slit throat and mouthed "you're next." He was rewarded with the funniest look ever for his efforts.

"Oh, that's fucking priceless," he guffawed, pointing rudely at the puppeteer again while his teammates and Temari watched clueless. They'd missed Naruto's original threat and Kankuro's deer-caught-in-headlights reaction, and did not get the joke.

Baki entered then. He was followed by two medics and stretcher-bearers carrying a badly hurt Gaara.

"What's going on?" he barked at his students.

He threw a distasteful glance at the genin who may have succeeded where so many others in Suna had failed for good measure. To hear the medics say it, his youngest charge needed medical attention fast or he was going to die. Baki hated to lose the jinchuuriki, who was such a promising weapon, but the needs of war and village must. Gaara was critical to disrupt the defense, cause enormous property damage, rack up civilian kills and sow chaos from behind enemy lines, and if he died in the pursuit of his duty, so be it. There would be another to take his place once Suna's future was secured, which it would be once Konoha was humiliated and brought to its knees today.

Naruto snorted at the look the jounin shot him and turned back to his teammates and the other gathered Konoha finalists in a calculated insult.

Baki bristled at the Uzumaki's gumption. How dare a mere genin turn his back on him as if he, a jounin, posed no threat to the twerp at all?!

xxxxx

Compared to the first match, the second one was rather conventional and uninteresting. Not that the crowd didn't devour it like crazy maniacs.

Shino fought the only Kusa nin to make it to the finals. The latter was a poison specialist. Shino retreated to the trees on one corner of the arena as soon as the fight was announced. He lost some bugs in the swarming feints he made, but while the Kusa nin was focused on evading and countering the bugs, the Team 8 member replaced himself with his bug bunshin. Then he circled around his opponent and took him from the rear, knocking him out before his opponent realized what had happened.

Enthusiasts among the spectators were delirious now. The first match had been an exhibition of ruthless execution, high-powered ninjutsu and out of the box thinking. None doubted that they'd seen the birth of a new legend in the shinobi community. The second match served as a textbook example on the use of terrain and superior tactics to bring down a deadly opponent. God knew what the third exam would bring.

As it happened, the third exam brought a lot of excitement. And not just the good kind.

xxxxx

It was clear now that the other three groups weren't going to make it for the assault. The fact worried him some, but Tora did not think the enemy knew Orochimaru-sama and Kazekage's intentions. If Konoha did, he had seen no sign of it; nor had he received any warning from his master. Security, in fact, looked pretty relaxed when he wandered into town early in the morning to scout his zone of responsibility.

The Oto commander looked at his wristwatch and then at the spotter. It wasn't time yet for the assault and the watcher shook his head. No flare so far from within the village signaling early commencement of hostilities. So, everything was going according to plan.

_Well everything except for the three missing units._ The thought brought an anticipatory smile on Tora's face. He would cherish his enemy's plight a few days henceforth forever.

xxxxx

It was close to 10 AM and Hyuuga Neji, genius to all, insufferable prick to many an acquaintance, and self-proclaimed victim of the monstrous injustices of fate, faced off against Uchiha Sasuke.

"Fate has ordained…" Neji began, sizing his opponent up.

The referee hadn't yet signaled the start of the match. And Neji apparently felt the need to inform his opponent of the pointlessness of struggling against fate. Sasuke wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.

"Blah blah!" he interrupted in his most insufferable voice, "Is that all you know? Fate this. Fate that. Fuck off, you dumb prick. I'd already heard your speech during the prelims and have no intention of suffering in silence while you stand there going yackety-yak."

Neji glared at the insult. A few in the audience laughed and a great many sported smirks. The acoustics of the stadium had carried the Hyuuga's put down clear and loud.

Off to the side, Genma faked a cough and used that as an excuse to hide a smirk of his own. Kakashi had seriously outdone himself with his team. The jounin recovered from his 'coughing fit' and gave the signal to fight.

Sasuke's sharingan spun a web of lies in his opponent's mind that Neji's byakugan pierced with ease. However, Sasuke had never meant the genjutsu to win the fight. It was meant as a distraction and distract Neji, it did. But not enough of one that the braided genin didn't see the trio of shuriken and dodge it in time.

Sasuke nodded to himself and circled his opponent at a jog. Holding his center, Neji dutifully followed him with his body. Naruto's speed in that one-sided battle earlier was all the warning he needed to not underestimate his raven-haired teammate's. It was hard to believe and Neji had no idea how he'd done it, but he thought that the blonde might actually be faster than Lee. And neither Naruto nor Sasuke had Lee's disability with chakra. Neji had done his homework and knew that the two boys liked to throw ninjutsu around like crazy.

There was a slight shift in Sasuke's bearing as his shoulder muscles flexed and his hip pivoted between steps. His chakra pathways brightened as if getting ready for a push.

Neji jumped back. And just in the nick of time, too, as the ground he'd been standing on literally exploded. Sasuke looked Neji in his eyes and smiled cheekily from the bottom of the crater.

_I was right,_ Neji thought. Sasuke was as fast as Naruto, though he burned far less chakra for the same speed. But while the raven-haired genin had huge reserves, he was no chakra demon like his teammate. He could not go on expending chakra so extravagantly for long. Not if he wanted to win the fight, which meant Neji had a chance at winning this match.

Neji smiled.

xxxxx

Orochimaru looked at the hour and sighed. The Sasuke-Neji fight was just getting interesting and he had yet to see Sakura fight. But little things like the destruction of Konoha came first.

_Oh well…_

xxxxx

Kabuto flashed through the necessary seals under his ANBU robe as soon as it struck 10 AM. The powerful genjutsu sent almost everyone in the stadium to sleep.

xxxxx

Once Kabuto made his play, before anyone realized what was happening, Orochimaru's Sound Four, who'd smuggled themselves into the stadium, scaled the Grand Hokage balcony where Sarutobi was seated. Through sheer brute force, they literally pushed the Hokage's ANBU back. Their charge gave the sannin the time he needed to take his teacher hostage and retreat to the top of the building. The Sound Four followed their master. They established themselves in each of the four corners and created a barrier so that the Orochimaru could deal with the Third undisturbed.

This took five seconds.

xxxxx

Like many ANBU closest to the Grand Hokage balcony, Kabuto made as if he was charging the Oto nin assaulting it. When one ignorant ANBU closed with him, he calmly casually reached over with his kunai and between steps, slit the man's throat. The ANBU crashed in a tangle of limbs and a spray of blood.

Kabuto jumped back to put some distance between himself and the remaining ANBU. He threw his robe away and shot them a beatific smile. The barrier was up and they could not interfere with Orochimaru-sama's hour of reckoning with his master and betrayer.

Mission accomplished.

xxxxx

"Aren't you happy to see me, Sarutobi-sensei?" Orochimaru whispered gaily into the Hokage's ears. "I've come to reduce this pathetic village to dust and settle a few scores. I think I'll start with slitting your throat."

"I'm happy, indeed, my stupid, errant apprentice. For today, you die," Sarutobi replied, twisting out of Orochimaru's grasp and landing a few yards away.

Orochimaru sneered at his teacher's words and formed the seals to send him into death's cold embrace.

xxxxx

Baki looked at sleeping masses and frowned. There were a few Oto/Suna shinobi here and there, but not nearly as many as there should have been. He had barely a moment to realize something had gone terribly wrong when he was forced to dodge to the side as Naruto unleashed a suiryuudan inside the balcony.

Flipping out of the confined space, he held onto the vertical face of the wall with his chakra to escape the blonde's high-powered jutsu. Then he sped through the seals for the daitoppa and unleashed it in the general direction of the Konoha genin within the balcony, with no regard for the Kazekage's children trapped inside. The immediate priority was to deal with the enemy first. He would worry about the collaterals later. The resultant blowout threw most of the Konoha genin, the two members of Team 7 included out into the arena.

Baki hoisted himself back into the ruined balcony and noted that one of Kankuro's puppets was severely damaged. It was obvious to him that Konoha knew about the Kazekage's plans all along – why else would Kakashi's genin attack the Sand jounin and his team? It was equally obvious that Lead had prepared a trap into which that never sufficiently damned prig and egomaniac Orochimaru had led everyone. If Gaara wasn't out for the count for this battle, Suna could have gained some measure of satisfaction from both Konoha and Orochimaru. But the boy wasn't and Baki had had no doubt the battle was lost already.

The only thing, then, was to mount a rearguard action and hope the siblings would be able to make a successful run for it with Suna's jinchuuriki. The One Tail, above all, could not be allowed to fall into Konoha's hands or Suna's fate was writ with this disaster.

"Take Gaara and go. I'll delay them," he ordered Temari and Kankuro.

The Sand siblings, the two that were coherent, nodded. Kankuro piggybacked Gaara and Baki ran through the seals for a karyu endan and jumped out the balcony for his meeting with fate.

xxxxx

One of Jiraiya's battle toads casually blocked the screaming Oto nin's ninjato and the other disemboweled the man with ease. The attacker collapsed like a sack of shit, his mouth open in a rictus of agony.

The sannin cursed Orochimaru aloud as he stepped over his would be assailant and gained open air. You could always depend on the traitorous bastard to time things in such a way that it ruined everyone else's day. This time, he'd started his attack right in the middle of the Toad Sannin's two-minute break to attend the call of nature. It was very fortunate that Jiraiya's godson had punted the little freak to the edge of death's door. Gallant Jiraiya's reputation wouldn't have survived the day if he'd wet his pants in the course of subduing a tailed beast. No one would have accepted the real truth that it was only a case of a bladder filled to bursting and not incontinence brought on by terror.

_Now, where's that jinchuuriki so that I can deal with him and seal the beast?_

"Hey, kid," Jiraiya asked Naruto, who was standing away from the fight with a Sand jounin, forming clones as needed and sending them charging in to join the melee.

"I'm busy, old man," Naruto replied. He recognized Jiraiya of the Sannin from Kakashi's reading materials, but that didn't mean he had to respect the old fart. Not when the man was intent on chatter in the middle of a battle.

"I can see that and I won't hold you for long. Where did the Kazekage's children go?"

"Them wimps?" the Uzumaki spat in disgust. "They ran out the stadium that way. Cowards."

Jiraiya departed without another word. He liked the brat, but now, it was time to fry another one or three.

xxxxx

The three gigantic summoned snakes led the charge to the village wall, guided by the men riding them. Behind, Tora and the rest of his men followed them at a brisk pace. It wouldn't do to breach the enemy's walls, after all, only to be killed because you were too out of breath.

The first hint of the plan gone terribly wrong came in the form of a large numbers of Konoha shinobi assembled atop the wall. From there, things went rapidly downhill.

xxxxx

Sarutobi smiled at the look on Orochimaru's face as the latter's 'massive' karyu endan sputtered out in a poof three feet from its creator.

"Surprise, my idiotic apprentice," the Third said jovially. He was really enjoying himself. It had been so long since he'd fought someone that he'd forgotten how good it felt. "The water you drank was tainted with one of Tsunade's special cocktails. Unless you have had the antidote, which I have, you won't be able to access or control chakra well."

Orochimaru stared incomprehension.

Sarutobi spat.

"You thought I didn't know about your alliance with Suna? I knew all along. You didn't trap me, ignorant little snake. I trapped you."

Orochimaru glared daggers. Could it be that the old retard was telling the truth? If so, then had Kabuto's fears been justified? He cursed himself for not listening to his right hand man earlier.

"So you think, Sensei," he leered, sounding less confident than he had but a minute before. He regurgitated his kusanagi and brought it to guard position. "But reality is you're trapped inside this barrier with me. Your ANBU will never be able to break it in a million years. In the meanwhile, I should think myself capable of killing one crusty old fart even with a handicap."

Sarutobi's smile was positively glowing.

"But can you deal with three dozen ANBU in your condition?" he asked, zipping to the closest of the Sound Four. Disregarding the danger of the inner barrier, he gathered a large amount of chakra in his left hand to overpower the shield and punched through it, driving a kunai into the back of the kunoichi's head with sufficient force to lodge the whole length of the blade inside her skull. Both barriers collapsed even as the Third's arm blackened to a crisp.

Orochimaru reached the Hokage then with a deft thrust at his teacher's kidney. Sarutobi jumped out of the way and assumed a stance even as his hand smoked and burned. The only sign that the flames hurt him was a slight grimace.

xxxxx

Kabuto saw the barrier collapse and knew it was time to vamoose. It was this last disaster in a day full of disasters that convinced him of the futility of the whole enterprise.

So, he feinted a charge at the two ANBU squared off against him and jetted out of the stadium like a rat fleeing a sinking ship. As he ran, his mind drifted back to the barrier and what it entailed for his mentor. He was sure that Orochimaru-sama would survive this fiasco and shake off his pursuers – his master was one of the legendary sannin, after all – but the Third Hokage would survive. Kabuto's own chances were just as good if he survived past the walls.

xxxxx

Baki knew he wasn't going to see another sunset. He was as elite jounin, but two ANBU, the jounin referee, the young Uchiha, his pink-haired teammate and of course, a never ending supply of their blonde teammate making suicide runs and delivering high powered ninjutsu at close ranges was beyond his ability by several miles and a few hundred yards. Still, he had nothing to lose and fought without care for personal welfare. For a few precious minutes, he was even able to hold his aggressors at bay.

The end, when it came, was sudden. Throughout the course of the fight, Baki skillfully had avoided looking Sasuke directly in his eyes. One of Naruto's clones made yet another high-speed suicide aiming to run through his bleeding opponent with a ninjato appropriated from somewhere.

It was as clumsy a sword attack as there ever was – Naruto never having trained with a blade – but the intent was clear and a sword wielded by an amateur hurts and kills just as well as one borne by a professional. Baki had every intention of making his enemies pay dearly and death by shadow clone was not how he planned to go. He used his superior experience and skill with the blade to impale the clone with a blade of wind that was so much sharper than any sword ever made.

Naruto disintegrated in a close of smoke, unmasking Sasuke who was making an attack run of his own in the blonde's wake. For one brief moment, Baki's eyes met Sasuke's as the boy veered off to avoid a collision with an ANBU attacking the Suna jounin from the side. As Neji had before, the jounin found himself instantly ensnared in a genjutsu. Only whereas the Konoha genin had his byakugan to counter the sharingan's lies with truth, the Suna jounin had none.

Caught in a web of nightmares, Baki staggered unexpectedly and what should have been a decapitating stroke missed by a mile and a half as the ANBU blade bit into his shoulders. The pain brought the jounin crashing out of the world of make believe only to have Sakura deliver a chakra coated palm strike to his heart that dropped him like a sack of potatoes.

He did not get up.

xxxxx

The Root operator examined his target as would a sculptor, virgin rock.

It was not Konoha's fault that the enemy had chosen to attack the section of the wall farthest from the Uchiha grounds. But a lot depended on the compound burning down in a fiery holocaust. Konoha had made big plans on that assumption and those plans could not be stymied simply because the enemy refused to cooperate.

One burnt to a crisp Uchiha compound coming up!

xxxxx

Orochimaru sensed the ANBU wave before he saw them. He darted to the side even as his three surviving guards – they did not know it, but they were now the unofficial sacrificial rearguard – moved to engage his pursuers. Hopefully, his three protégés would delay the Leaf ANBU long enough and buy him the time he needed to make his escape.

Sadly, it was not to be.

Sarutobi somehow summoned Enma with his blistered arms and the big monkey body tackled Jirobou. As monkey king and strongman went down in a tumble, it created a big hole on the line for Orochimaru's pursuers to exploit. ANBU poured forth and the sannin was forced to dodge to the side as one took a pot shot with a karyu endan.

The sannin saw Kidomaru fall next, overwhelmed by sheer numbers, and the wave of ANBU became a tide. Sakon and Ukon were washed away seconds later under that same charge, and Jirobou suffered from a terminal case of slit throat as a passing ANBU took a moment to finish him as he lay broken on the roof. Orochimaru knew that the situation was as bad as any he'd ever faced, but surrender was not an option. Not within Konoha's walls. He stabbed his first assailant in the abdomen and cut off the offending arm of the next ANBU that got too close to him. Then he screamed aloud as Sarutobi, who'd also joined the fight came in low from the side and swung the Enma-staff, shattering his ex-student's knee.

Orochimaru fell on his broken and bent knee, which made him scream even louder. An ANBU took the opportunity to severe the muscles on his right shoulder, removing the sannin's ability to use his arm.

On his knees, deprived of the ability to use a weapon and unable to flee, there was no escape for even a sannin after that.

xxxxx

Temari and Kankuro fled as fast as their legs could carry them. They did not know it, but with Jiraiya on their tail, their cause was a lost one. To their credit, they managed to reach the forest before he intercepted their little group.

"So here we are," Jiraiya said, blocking the path, "two genin against a sannin. Think you can escape?"

Temari gripped her fan tighter. With her younger brother wounded so badly, their tactical situation was impossible and could have only one outcome. They were so dead. Semi-conscious, Gaara groaned at that moment and vomited blood on Kankuro's shoulder.

"Your brother is severely wounded. Surrender and I'll ensure Konoha does everything we can to save him. You two will be treated well."

Temari looked undecided. She cast a sideways glance to her sociopath younger brother, who despite having threatened to kill her so many times was still kin. Gaara's life was hanging by a thread.

Jiraiya moved, sensing indecision. His fist appeared as if by magic in Temari's stomach. As she folded over, a simple kick to Kankuro's leg broke his knee and destroyed his mobility. Kankuro shouted and started to fall, but the sannin was there. Holding the puppeteer's arms hostage, Jiraiya lowered both the boy and his precious cargo to the ground. In his condition, the Kazekage's youngest might die if he hit the dirt hard and the Third's student had no intention of fighting a tailed beast if it could be avoided.

The sannin knocked out the jinchuuriki's siblings and went to work. He opened the seal scroll he'd prepared after the meeting with Koharu and spread it on the ground. He gingerly lifted the jinchuuriki and placed him on the array spread. Then, he gathered chakra in his right hand, and running through the invoking seals, slammed it on the boy's chest.

Gaara screamed and after a second, fell unconscious from the blow and the technique, but by that time the seal had activated. Jiraiya watched the unconscious jinchuuriki closely for a couple of seconds and nodded. The boy might die even now, but if that happened, the one tail would only exchange one prison for another.

Then, with the tailed beast secured for the nonce and the jinchuuriki's siblings knocked out for the count, he summoned two battle toads and sent them to Konoha for reinforcements and medics. He looked at the sky and thought, _it is a fine day._

xxxxx

Author's notes:

And that's the end of Chuunin Exams! Please leave reviews.

Finally, Naruto has learnt kage bunshin. Team 7 trained extensively with it in the month before the finals and are on a much higher plateau in terms of skill and in Sakura's case, power than they were before.

Also as I'd stated in the last chapter, I've reintroduced Team 7 in this one. LOL They play a small, but important role in the battle. Naruto had his fight and so did Sasuke, but Sakura got very little. That couldn't be helped. I had plans for a Team 7-Gaara battle finale, but this approach is much more sensible and logical (I also did not want uber-Team 7 for now.) Jiraiya wouldn't waste time restraining Gaara once he got his hands on him and with Team 7 delayed by Baki's rearguard action, Jiraiya was always bound to reach him first.

Also, now, you know what Tsunade's concoction was. As for Orochimaru, without access to chakra, I don't think he'd be able to summon snakes or use any of the ninjutsu or genjutsu techniques we've seen him use. Still, he'd be more than enough to handle a lone ANBU or even a couple, which is why they dog pile him. Quality may be better than quantity, but quantity always has a quality of its own. Also, fair is for idiots. Call me to a fist fight and I'll always bring a bat. LOL

Much thanks to RakeeshJ4 and Nugar. The former was the first to point out the big logical gap in the chapter before last and both of them helped as idea sounding boards.


	13. Postorgasmic Bliss?

The Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 12: Post-orgasmic Bliss?

Disclaimer: Do fanfic writers get laid regularly?

When Jiraiya and Kakashi answered the summons around mid-afternoon, the medic was scrapping dead skin off the Hokage's burnt arm. Like any governing body, Konoha's council had its share of idiots and they were there in the corner of the room, bearing witness to the procedure. The councilors had come to make their indignation clear at being kept out of the war compartment, but were quiet for fear of the ANBU in the room. Ignoring the gathered carrion-feeders, Sarutobi bore the excruciating pain – he wanted to be clearheaded for his meeting with the Copy-nin and the Sannin, and had refused anesthetic against advice – without complaint.

"Leave us alone," the Hokage ordered the councilors as his two visitors strode into the room. He pushed himself upright, grimacing in pain as he did.

Some of the officials looked like they might object, but left without protest when ANBU advanced on them. As far as ANBU guards were concerned, they'd tolerated the wallflowers only because their principal hadn't objected to their presence so far. Now that he had, the councilors had better vacate the room post haste or they weren't going to bother with niceties.

"You called us, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked after the room emptied of both medics and councilors, and only ANBU remained.

"Yes. I wanted to talk to you before they put me under today on a subject of import. It involves Jiraiya, too."

Kakashi nodded. Jiraiya smiled wryly at his teacher. He'd guessed what this meeting was about as soon as he saw Kakashi waiting outside the Hokage's room in the hospital.

Sarutobi cleared his throat.

"As you know, a new age of war is upon us. I estimate four years at the maximum before the shadow wars burst into the open again. In a way it's already begun since we've fired the first shots today, here in Konoha. The village needs a strong leader to lead us through the turbulent times ahead. I'm not him. I'm too old."

Realization dawned in Kakashi's eyes as he finally understood the Hokage's purpose in calling him to the meeting. He turned to regard Jiraiya, who shot him a broad smile return.

"I'm honored, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said, turning back to face his commander, "but I feel Jiraiya-sama would be a better choice."

Sarutobi sighed.

"So do Koharu and Homura. This is why the two of you are here. But, Kakashi, my advisors aren't looking at the whole problem and neither are you," the Third replied.

Kakashi, who'd looked thoughtful while Sarutobi spoke, nodded. He thought he understood the Third's concern.

"You're worried about Jiraiya-sama's intelligence network," he ventured.

The Hokage smiled and then grimaced again as a jolt of pain shot through his spine. He consoled himself with the fact that he had to bear the agony for just a little more time.

"Yes. It'd be criminal to waste such a fine weapon of war."

"And if I'm Hokage, we can kiss the whole network goodbye," Jiraiya interjected helpfully. The sannin was enjoying himself. He'd been afraid that the Sandaime would foist the hat on him, but it looked like his fears had been unfounded. The old man was very wise.

"The council respects Jiraiya-sama more," Kakashi pointed out, gesturing at the door through which the councilors had exited. "I'll have much more trouble with them. What about Danzo-sama? Who does he support?"

"Danzo is ambivalent. Given a choice, he'd elect himself, but so long as he thinks Konoha's in good hands, he won't be a problem. Or at least, not too much of one."

Kakashi shrugged. He was not privy to the power struggles between the ruling four. And Danzo was the most secretive of the whole lot.

"And the council?"

"That useless nest of parasites?" Jiraiya sneered. "If the Four support you, the rest will fall in line. You command as much respect as I do among the regulars and ANBU, anyways. And that's all that should matter. This is, after all, a ninja village."

Sarutobi nodded.

"Political power comes from the sharp edge of the sword," he stated, using an old quote from his younger days when war was the law of the land.

"It's a huge responsibility, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said honestly. "To stand in the shadow of Shodaime, Nidaime, Minato-sensei and you."

"Kakashi," Sarutobi replied, "you've been training for the job for two decades. You've been accepted as a possible candidate for five years now. Your mentorship of Team 7 and their devotion to you has convinced ANBU commanders and I that you are our man. Konoha needs a warrior in his prime to lead her through the coming turmoil. The village needs a leader of men who'll command loyalty like Minato did. You're it on both counts. Trust me on this."

Kakashi still looked a bit uncertain. The Hokage's arguments made sense, he supposed, but what was to become of his team?

"My team?" he asked.

"They'll be cared for. I'll take them under my wing after Tea. Or Jiraiya will."

"I'll strive very hard to be worthy of your trust, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi nodded. He'd work on Koharu and Homura and get them to see things his way. And Danzo wasn't going to be a problem for long. The old war hawk had made one mistake too many and Sarutobi meant to extract his pound of flesh as payment.

xxxxx

It was evening when all but a handful of the enemy holdouts within Konoha had been overrun that Homura met with the highest-ranking and/or the most influential nobles. Wherever those two weren't one and the same, both the senior and the most powerful of the nobles were summoned for the sake of politeness. Homura's message from the Fire Daimyo for the lot was impolite enough that the old advisor needed all the courtesy he could manage to sweeten the bitter pill.

As per the decision made prior to the exams, the assembled nobles were the first of the genjustu victims revived in the stadium. After verifying their physical health, Konoha ANBU escorted them to the Hokage tower on a roundabout but premeditated route. It was by design that this path took them close to the blazing ruins of the Uchiha clan compound as well as through some of the neighborhoods that witnessed the most intense fighting and thus, suffered the most property damage. Regular nin vigorously patrolled the village so as to give the impression of a village under siege, but still standing proud with plenty of fight left in its heart.

The nobles got the message loud and clear. They would tread lightly. The sleeping giant was awake and on the warpath.

"Lords," Homura said, staring the gathered nobles in the eye, "my apologies for being an imperfect host and for any inconvenience you've experienced. As I'm sure you must have guessed already from the scenes you'd witnessed, Fire country's borders have been violated and Konoha invaded. You were caught in a genjutsu when the enemy launched the surprise attack. Fortunately, our courageous shinobi were able to thwart the invaders, but at terrible cost to life and property."

"Who were the attackers?" Shinji, a member of the Lightning court asked.

Shinji was a middling ranked but fairly senior member of the Lightning court. He was powerful enough that his death would cause a diplomatic incident but junior enough that there were others who could replace him. Certainly, his Daimyo considered him expendable, since ANBU had intercepted several attacks on his unconscious person as well as the Earth representative during the attack, but no other.

Homura had no doubt that the Cloud backers of the invasion as well as their Lightning counterparts had conspired with Orochimaru to have their diplomats assassinated, hoping to frame Leaf and Fire for their death and use the ensuing incident to negotiate concessions. Furthermore, it would have reflected very badly on both parent country and client ninja village if only nobles from Earth and Lightning died during the attack and given good reason for the two to turn a deaf ear to Konoha and Hi no Kuni's complaints later on.

Fortunately, ANBU Intelligence had anticipated such an action and posted guards close to the Earth and Lightning contingents.

"The invading force was composed of Suna and Oto shinobi led by Orochimaru," Homura's replied, waving several hitaite before his audience.

"Suna participated in the attack?" Lord Akio asked asked, his shock and surprise clear at Homura's announcement. He was the Wind Daimyo's closest friend and confidante and he knew how much trouble this meant for his country. In fact, the news caught him so badly off guard that he did not immediately think to protest Wind's innocence, seasoned politician though he was.

"Yes, Noble Lord. Orochimaru was masked as Kazekage to assassinate the Sandaime."

Akio paled.

"Did he…"

Homura shook his head.

"Fortunately, he did not. The traitor is caught and behind bars. He will be executed in public for his crimes against Leaf and Fire as soon as our ANBU are done questioning him. But this does beg the question, why was Orochimaru dressed as Kazekage? Should Konoha and Hi no Kuni assume that a state of war now exists between our two nations and shinobi villages?"

Akio paled even further.

"On my soul and honor, Wind did not have anything to do with this," he replied.

"Then as a token of Wind's continuing friendship, you will do us the favor of sending a message to the Daimyo regarding Suna's treachery and promise reparations."

"Reparations I cannot promise without consulting the Daimyo and without knowing the extent of your demands," Akio answered. "The other, I can and will do."

"Very well. We will discuss this in detail later."

"Where's the Hokage?" one of the gathered nobles – someone too minor for Homura to identify – asked. "Is he okay?"

"He was injured by Orochimaru during the attack. He's receiving treatment right now."

"What's his prognosis?" another asked.

"Very good. He managed to block the assassin's killing strike with his arm," Homura lied adroitly. Let Earth and Lightning think that Sarutobi escaped by a hair. It would make them all the more wary of pissing off the foremost shinobi village in the land for the next while. "But he's the picture of health otherwise. Anything else?"

Silence. The faces of the lords bespoke their curiosity, but they held their tongue. Homura hadn't yet made his most important announcement and laid down the law, after all.

"The reason you're here," Homura said, addressing the gathered bunch, "is because Fire and Leaf wish you to contact your governments. Inform them that Hi no Kuni and Konohagakure no Sato have declared war on Rice and its client shinobi village, Oto until such a time comes to pass when Hidden Sound is disbanded and ceases to exist as a shinobi village. We refuse to abide their foulness anymore and Orochimaru and all his abominable creations must go. We will not tolerate any foreign interference in this regard. Any belligerent action towards our shinobi by your personnel within Rice will be considered a formal declaration of war.

"Towards this goal, two companies of our shinobi departed less than an hour ago to secure the borders of Rice and safeguard the traitor's facilities from interlopers. More will leave soon. Orders have gone out to forward detachments within Hi no Kuni to cross into Rice as well. Your governments are welcome to heighten security on your side of the border, of course, but do not violate the boundary. Rest assured our forces will withdraw to Fire's borders once their mission is accomplished and none of Orochimaru's legacy is left standing.

"Hi no Kuni and Konohagure no Sato also strongly condemn any nations or states that helped the invaders in their nefarious plot. The Fire Daimyo has stated he reserves the right to wage war against these outlaw states on his own volition. Orders have already been dispatched to mobilize the armies of Fire and declare a state of emergency. Such flagrant violation of our borders with belligerent intention cannot and will not go unpunished."

The nobles nodded. The wisest and most knowledgeable among them understood that the speech wasn't just political rhetoric and jingoism. They knew of Fire's mobilization, which had begun months prior and knew that this was a real warning to their countries to keep their noses out of Hi no Kuni's business or else... They had no doubt that the Fire Daimyo would use Orochimaru's attack as an excuse to invade Tea since, as they suspected, that was what he planned to do anyways.

In fact, both Earth and Lightning delegates to the exams carried as part of their mission strongly worded condemnations addressed to the Fire Daimyo that warned of dire consequences should he proceed with his 'foreign adventure.' There had been little enough chance Fire and Leaf would heed them before, though a crippling attack would have made them more amenable to the diplomatic mission. Homura doubted if Shinji knew it – chances were overwhelmingly against the man being privy to that compartment – but Lightning had vigorously supported Orochimaru during the latter stages of his conspiracy to defend their allies in Tea.

Now, with Konoha triumphant, the Daimyo and the Hokage had even less reason to pay any attention to the demands of the other powers. Especially when, in truth, their saber rattling was all bark and no bite. The other major nations were not ready for war unlike Fire and they were too far from Tea with no effective means of force projection.

xxxxx

A day later…

The center of the cave was surprisingly well lit, but not so well that the ceiling was visible. On the fringes of the circle cast by the light were ten stalagmites, playing pedestal to nine figures, some corporeal and some not.

"Zetsu, report," the central figure said.

"Konoha has crushed the Oto-Suna alliance," Zetsu's white half replied and paused for the black half to take over, "They've taken Orochimaru captive as well as the One Tail jinchuuriki." Switching again, "The jinchuuriki will not survive long."

"Their plans?"

"Unclear," black replied.

"Zetsu, keep an eye on Konoha. Itachi and Kisame, depart for Suna at once. Observe and report. Deidara and Sasori, you're in charge of recovering Orochimaru's ring. Hidan and Kakuzu, your mission from before is unchanged. Summon a meeting once you make some headway in your missions."

xxxxx

The room was brightly lit. On the rack before him and hanging on the walls were various instruments of torture that Orochimaru was intimately familiar with. He'd used them on many an unwilling subject himself over the years, after all.

His first goal was escape, but he could break neither the chakra suppressing manacles nor escape the restraints that kept him secured to the chair. His body ached – and the aches sapped what little strength remained in him – from chakra deprivation and from the healing he'd received from Leaf medics. The latter was because Konoha's healers remained unaware of his true nature and had used techniques that worked well on humans, but not on one who'd transcended human boundaries such as he.

"It's good to see you again, Orochimaru."

The sannin used the limited degree of movement the restraints gave his head to turn towards the voice. He knew the man behind it, of course, having presided over the incumbent jounin's entry into the ANBU Corps all those years ago.

"Ibiki," he acknowledged Konoha's foremost interrogation expert. It said much of the sannin's mental fortitude that his voice was utterly devoid of fear.

"Yes, it is I," Ibiki replied, nodding to his helpers. "And I must say that it gives me great pleasure to entertain you today."

The three ANBU strong security detail in Ibiki's group moved to their positions behind Orochimaru. The two torturers who accompanied the jounin went to examine the instruments of their trade.

Orochimaru leered. The sannin's records were part of Konoha archives and they'd have told Ibiki that he was one of the few people who do not break under torture, which meant that the jounin'd come for other reasons.

"I didn't know you were a sadist rather than your garden-variety amoral critter, Ibiki," he said. "Maybe I should have tried to recruit you instead of Anko-chan all those years back."

Ibiki laughed and checked the IV that fed Tsunade's cocktail into the traitor's veins.

"Perhaps, but Orochimaru, I'm here mostly on business, though I won't deny the pleasure. Konoha knows that you won't break under torture, but most of your foreign allies don't. And the ones that do will doubt you did and that serves Leaf's purpose equally well. You see, we know a lot about your little clique and it turns out Konoha and Fire have to reveal some of our hand to achieve our objectives.

"But your friends don't need to know we got our information elsewhere, do they? And there's also the bonus of ruining your reputation forever to motivate us. Think of it as Konoha spitting on your dead body and pissing on your grave. A fair price for your crimes against the village."

Orochimaru struggled against his restraints then. He didn't fear torture or death, but such was his hatred for his village that he couldn't stand the thought of Leaf benefiting through him at all.

"Start with the nails and teeth. Then work on his/her/it's bits," Ibiki instructed his help calmly. "After that, we'll see what a skinned snake looks like and how it sounds when basted with vinegar."

xxxxx

General Hiro, long serving Head of Intelligence and longtime companion of the ruler of Wind, took one look at his Daimyo's face and knew at once that there was going to be bloodshed in the near future. His liege was amicable enough most of the time, but when provoked, as the Kazekage discovered to his bad luck, made for an implacable foe.

"Your Highness," the General said, bowing deeply.

Kusakabe Tetsuo, the Daimyo, made an imperial nod of acknowledgement in return.

"General Hiro, it has come to Our attention that the Honored Kazekage," the Lord said, laying stress on the title as he was wont whenever he talked of the commander of the Wind's Ninja Corps, "has taken it upon himself to wage war on the Land of Fire. Our representatives to the Chuunin Exams inform us that Our Cousin, He who rules Hi no Kuni, is irate and suspects treachery most foul on Our part. We would know why Our intelligence apparatus failed so miserably in this regard. We would know also how you intend to expiate this dishonor."

General Hiro, whose pallor had paled dramatically through the Daimyo's speech, took a deep breath, feeling his life flash before his eyes. The ways of honor gave him only one out if he'd shamed himself, his clan and his lord so.

"I, and I alone, failed at my duty to defend my Lord and people from enemies within and without," he spoke, formally in a voice that betrayed just so much emotion and hesitation as might be expected from a man making a painful confession. "For this crime and dishonor, I will disembowel myself. I beg my Lord to do me the honor of witnessing the act."

The Daimyo nodded.

"We will. This afternoon. Recommend a worthy successor and entrust to him the investigation on the lapse."

"It will be done, Lord," the General said.

The Daimyo's eyebrows furrowed in thought. He knew that it was high time that the disrespectful fools in Suna paid for their deplorable manners and treacherous behavior. But what should he do? More importantly, what would satisfy Fire and keep them off his back until such a time as when his treasury was full, his ninja loyal and obedient, and his forces ready for war? The answer, when it came, was so obvious that it felt inspired.

"That is all, old friend. Please inform General Zenzaburo that We wish to meet him to discuss war plans against the Hidden Village in Sand."

The General bowed deeply and took leave. His steps quickened once he exited the room for he had to write farewell letters to his family, put his affairs in order and carry out his official duties before the appointed time for his seppuku ceremony in the afternoon.

xxxxx

Two weeks later…

"Hey, Naruto," Kiba hailed.

It was early evening and three exhausted heads turned as one at the Inuzuka's call. Having performed admirably well in the exams, as their teacher put it, and because Konoha felt like rubbing Cloud's nose in it, Team 7 had been pulled in for the daytime security detail of Kumo's dignitaries by ANBU. Of course, the genin did not know of the political aspect of the decision or that ANBU Corps was using the mission to evaluate them as possible candidates for its program. The nature of the exam being what it was, Kakashi wasn't allowed to babysit them, which made the job stressful work for his team. Especially since their debriefer told them that their main duty was not to protect the diplomats from external threats but to ensure that the Cloud delegation did not steal unnoticed into the village.

"Join us," Kiba invited, gesturing at his table. All jounin had been busy for the last two weeks since the attack and having worked their 8-hour shift, Team 8 was socializing with Team 10. Kiba did not know about the others, but he definitely wanted Team 7 to join him and his friends. He'd been aching to listen to a firsthand account of their story about the recently concluded exams.

Naruto looked at his teammates. They shrugged.

"We were on the way to Ichiraku's, but I guess this'll do," he said, taking the proffered seat and looking around. "What's on the menu?"

"Does it matter?" Sasuke retorted before anyone could reply. He'd made sure he wasn't sitting next to the Yamanaka by sitting between his teammates. He did not want to be groped by the blonde kunoichi if he could help it. "We'll have whatever you ordered."

"What he says," Sakura seconded.

Naruto shrugged.

"So, what are you guys doing?" Chouji asked.

"Guard duty," Sakura answered. "You?"

"We're doing cleanup of the burnt out ruins of the Uchiha compound. We are scavenging for precious metal – any metal really – and anything else that's salvageable as our sensei's ordered us," Chouji replied. To the raven-haired Uchiha scion, "Sorry about your compound, by the way, Sasuke."

"Yeah, where are you staying?" Ino piped in. She had yet to get over her fear of Naruto and Sakura – privately, the Yamanaka thought she never would – but her Sasuke-kun was okay. His teammates were the killers.

"Naruto," Sasuke replied, laconically.

"Him?" Ino asked, acerbically.

Naruto snorted.

"Sure as hell ain't with you," he muttered, earning a glare from Shikamaru's teammate.

"Anyways," Kiba said, sensing the conversation was headed for troubled waters, "who're you guarding?"

"The Kumo delegates," Sakura replied.

Shikamaru arched an eyebrow in interest.

"Troublesome," he said by way of contribution to the conversation. Everyone ignored him since they knew from long association that the Nara used the term to describe pretty much everything.

"Really?" Kiba asked.

"Yeah," Naruto replied. Then, "Where're the eats? Service is terrible here. There's no delay at Ichiraku."

"Shut up, Naruto."

"You shut up, Pinky. I don't know what you got against ramen."

"And there you go again, you blond prick," Sakura shouted back into Naruto's face. "For once and for all, it's not about the ramen."

Naruto glared, but shut up. Sasuke snorted in amusement as Kiba looked at Sakura with interest.

The pink haired kunoichi snorted in disgust at the dog user.

"Aren't you sad your clan compound burned down?" Shino asked Sasuke. The insect specialist knew it was perhaps tactless of him to pose the question, but he wanted to gauge the other genin's reaction.

"The place had no meaning to me except the memories," Sasuke replied. Oh, he had issues with his house and everything else he owned, including the only surviving souvenirs of his family, going up in smoke, but didn't see why he should share it with anyone outside his team. "And I carry those with me wherever I go."

Shikamaru yawned. Sasuke shot him an enquiring glance and caught the light of intelligence in his eyes that said the other genin wasn't fooled.

"What were planning to do after you maneuvered Neji to Naruto's crater?" Shikamaru asked, shooting a very lethargic, apologetic look at Kiba's spectacled teammate. The lazy genius understood where Shino was coming from and normally, he wouldn't have bothered, but he'd seen Team 7 in action in the forest and the insect wielder had not. As Shikamaru saw it, it was better for everyone concerned to turn the conversation away from the painful memories and towards something more mundane, but interesting yet. If Sasuke took Shino's questions the wrong way, it'd become troublesome for all.

"You deduced that, huh?" Sasuke asked, curiously as his teammates looked on with interest. As he spoke, he made sure to make eye contact with Shikamaru so that the latter understood his gratitude.

Shikamaru quirked an eyebrow as if to ask Sasuke what kind of idiot the latter thought the former was, ignoring the unspoken part of the message altogether. It was just too troublesome to acknowledge these things.

Sasuke shrugged. What did he care so long as Shikamaru got his message loud and clear!

"Win the fight, of course."

"Hey, Uke, what were you going to do?" Naruto asked.

Ino, who'd been sipping water, sputtered at her crush's nickname and sprayed Naruto. The boy shouted obscenities – though he had enough sense to leave his offending classmate out of it – and left to clean himself up. Ino looked mortified at the offense she'd just given the murderous blonde and her hands shook just a little in fear. She knew it was irrational, but she was afraid that Naruto would hurt her like he did that Sound genin.

"Good going, Ino," Kiba jibed. "I'm sure Naruto appreciates how you did everything but slap him in his face."

Ino glared at Kiba in return as her fear gave way to anger. Kiba, not understanding her reaction glared right back.

The awkward silence that followed the declaration of hostilities between the two broke a few seconds later when the waiter came with their fare. By the time Naruto returned, conversation had pretty much taken a backseat as everyone set about enjoying the meal.

xxxxx

"It's done, Lords," Hi no Kuni's chief negotiator said, pushing two copies of the final version of the negotiated agreement across the desk.

Lord Watanbe picked up the scroll and weighed it in his hands. Sarutobi picked up his and unrolling it, read through the executive brief.

"Well, it has everything we wanted," Watanbe said aloud with a bright smile. Like Sarutobi, he had not participated in the negotiations, but he knew the gist of the treaty from the daily briefings he'd attended for the past week.

"Yes and it was all done in record time, too. The Lightning and Cloud delegation tried to drag their feet, but Wind and Sand delegation wouldn't have any of it. The Wind Daimyo wanted the negotiations brought to a quick conclusion and the newly established Kazekage couldn't wait to put everything relating to the old regimen behind him. The threat of force by their Daimyo certainly helped matters some there. And when we brought out Orochimaru's confession and hinted at sharing the information of Cloud's culpability with Stone and Rock, Lightning and Cloud could not wait to get the treaty signed. They even started seeing things our way with regards to Tea."

"So we get to keep the One Tail like we wanted?" Sarutobi asked, looking up from the scroll. "I'd thought that the Kaze no Kuni and Sunagakure no Sato delegation would negotiate hard to have it returned. I was afraid it'd become a big bone of contention. What happened?"

"We think the Wind Daimyo forced the issue, Hokage-sama."

"Did he now?"

"We think he did it to show Suna who's boss and as you know, Sand cannot refuse his dictates as weakened as they are now. Of course, we have to come to his aid in case of disturbances at home. In exchange for quarterly tithes as detailed in Annexure C."

"The tithes are good, but protection? That's going to be hard, stretched as we will be," Watanbe commented.

"We can deal with it. We expected there'll be small scale conflict between the hidden villages while the nations themselves get ready for war," the Hokage replied. "We'll simply have to ensure that we tie up things at Tea and Rice soonest. With Kumo officially neutral to the invasion, there wouldn't be too many of their ninja to oppose us, though there'd be enough 'renegade Kumo nin' and the customary nukenin to give us a headache if we let things get out of hand. But I don't think Tea will be too hard." To the negotiator, "What of the Kazekage's children?"

"We've reached an accommodation regarding the two surviving children. Konoha can grant them political asylum provided they don't don Leaf's colors," the man replied. Then, shooting the Hokage a wry smile, "The agreement doesn't say, however, that they shouldn't train or teach others. We think Suna just wants them out of the way and isn't too worried about the knowledge they carry."

Sarutobi shook his head.

"They give us two new shinobi as well. Wonderful. I'll grant the siblings access to the training areas. For exercise purposes, of course."

Watanbe nodded.

"Anything else?" he asked.

The negotiator shook his head.

"Then with Orochimaru's execution today evening, we're good to go. Here's to sweet victory against Tea, Sarutobi. We're going to be rid of those pissants forever soon."

xxxxx

Author's notes:

That's the end of what feels like the worst chapter I've ever written, even though a lot happens in it. Please leave reviews. ;;

Seriously, I could not think of a better approach to this chapter (as proof, I wrote the first two scenes on last Monday and could not think of anything to write till today) and still stay true to my goals because of 'design limitations.' The plan was to cover the aftermath of the raid in two chapters and then, maybe a couple more on a mission that is critical to the plot after the coming time skip. Turns out there are too many damn plot threads. I have to tie up Danzo's thread and the Hokage succession thread (even though this is a new one), detail the actual fallout of the raid and how it's going to help Konoha and Fire pursue their goals, the impact of the burning of the Uchiha compound on Sasuke, hint at what's going to happen to Team 7.

Oh, to those few who'd commented that you should bring a gun or a knife to a fist fight, I've experience with a bat and thus, prefer it. ;; Also, I'm looking for an official proofreader or two. If you're a grammar nazi and good at spotting typos, then do drop me a line.


	14. Thirty Pieces of Silver

The Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 13: Thirty Pieces of Silver

Disclaimer: Viva la Yaoi! ROFL

"We need him," Koharu stated aloud, leaving unsaid the addendum, _if only to prevent civil war._

"Maybe," Sarutobi accepted, waving at the document before him with a flourish, "but that constitutes high treason. That places certain restraints on me. That makes me wonder if the cost of Danzo alive is worse than the price of Danzo dead."

The two advisers looked at their copies with distaste. They knew Danzo was a fool given to little forethought for consequences, but really, ordering Mizuki's assassination when it could have undermined all of Fire and Konoha's plans for the exams was too much. A patriot to the idea of the village, the old cripple undeniably was, but that truth negated neither the evidence at hand nor his treasonous actions against the rest of the Ruling Four and couldn't stay the long arm of the law.

Certainly, they felt little inclination to defend him. Sarutobi had probably cooked up the evidence – even a temperamental fool like Danzo couldn't have survived to ripe old age if he was also thoughtless, after all – but they had no doubt where laid the responsibility for the fiasco. Oh, they had no doubt at all on that account!

Sarutobi had made it very clear that it was up to them to clean up the mess as best they could, salvage what was possible and do everything in their power to avoid bloodshed and possibly civil war within the village, for he wasn't going to. Hopefully, they could get the Third to see reason, which going by his last statement was going to be hard work, and forge a compromise.

"He is loyal. In his own fashion," Homura observed with a sigh of resignation, knowing that the argument was weak in light of the evidence. It was certainly galling to say that of Danzo's ambitions and his ideas, but he and Koharu were really grasping at straws here. Anything was better than shedding their own blood and weakening the village in these troubled times.

"Yes, but his virulent patriotism has caused a lot of trouble in both the domestic and international scene over the years. He has a demonstrated propensity for resorting to force without thought for consequences and I must remind you that there comes a time when even the greatest patriot needs abandonment.

"And besides, the Daimyo has been less than satisfied with the idea of Danzo in a position of responsibility for years now. He has expressed his reservations on the subject. This incident just proves his fears true and I see it as a great opportunity. Undoubtedly, the time has come to deal with old One Arm," Lord Watanbe chipped in.

Homura and Koharu exchanged a sideways glance. Even though the issue had security implications for Fire as a whole, they'd wondered what role the Daimyo's plenipotentiary ambassador to Konoha played in a meeting concerning, what was at end of day, mostly an internal problem in the village. Now they knew. Watanbe's stance was even harder than the Third's and his presence guaranteed the Daimyo felt the same way. If the ruler of Fire was steadfast on the matter, it did not forebode good things for the future. Bloodshed they hoped so badly to avoid might be unavoidable, after all.

"We cannot execute him, Sarutobi. We simply cannot," Koharu pleaded with the Hokage, changing tack and opting to address her teammate rather than the nobleman. "Root is too powerful."

"My hands are tied," the Hokage replied with a shrug, shooting a look at Watanbe. "The law is pretty clear on that point."

"If you appeal to the Daimyo, he'll grant a pardon, you know that. There is precedent there," Homura pointed out. Whatever their teammate may hint about Watanbe forcing the issue, truth was the Third retained a lot of influence over Hi no Kuni's ruler. They simply had to make him use it and this whole nightmare would go away.

Sarutobi nodded agreement.

"Yes, I can, but do I want to appeal to the Daimyo? Danzo's actions have endangered both village and country this time, and went beyond the pale. I want to avoid bloodshed myself," he said smoothly, "but I find myself in a hard place. And like I said, Danzo dead, even with all the bloodshed in the short run, may be better than Danzo alive."

Koharu sighed inwardly. The Hokage's speech just about confirmed her suspicions. Sarutobi was orchestrating this whole mess to gain concessions from them. But she worried the old coot may have overreached himself this time, however, playing with fire as he was by informing Watanbe on Danzo. Now, because he had, his teammates would have to pay his price for the pardon. And the only thing that Sarutobi wanted from she and Homura was their support for his candidate for the succession.

"His men would mutiny," she argued weakly, knowing the counter to her point even as she spoke.

"They would if they were within the village. If My Lord Daimyo wants me to, I can sign orders to move most of them to Rain and secure the border from Kumo infiltrators. There's no doubt that Danzo's men can and will rally around him so long as he's alive. Undoubtedly, they'll defend him with their lives, but with their numbers reduced thus, it'd matter little when I send in my assassins. Certainly a waste of good troops as I'll have to put down all who stay behind, and though it'll weaken the village in the short run, I think it'd be a small price to pay for the future security of Konoha. We cannot in good conscience condone this kind of unilateral action detrimental to the good of the village. I will regret giving the order, but I will not renege on my duty," the Third replied.

"And I can guarantee the Daimyo wants to," Watanbe added.

"And if Root refuses to follow orders?" Homura asked.

Sarutobi shot them a grim look. Words were unnecessary.

It was an act, the two advisers knew now. But neither did they doubt that the Third had any compunction against acting in the manner he'd stated in alliance with the Daimyo.

There was nothing to do then really, but pay the price – Sarutobi and the Daimyo might think the village could afford to shed its own blood, but the Third's teammates thought otherwise. They consoled themselves with the knowledge that they would, at least, gain the satisfaction of having dealt with Danzo once and for all.

And it certainly wasn't as if Kakashi wasn't qualified for the job. It was just that their first preference was Jiraiya. But if it meant avoiding a civil war, they'd gladly give Minato's student the Seat.

"We can strip him of his power," Homura stated, making a really weak attempt to gain some brownie points.

"Are you out of your mind? Root would flock to his standard if we make such an announcement and then we'd certainly have a civil war in our hands," Sarutobi said, a little heatedly. "No, I don't think so."

"I think Homura means strip him of his power by virtue of sending him to Suna. Let them deal with him," Koharu appended.

"Put him in charge of our compliment there?" the Third asked, intrigued.

"Yes, just don't send his men with him. Give him two companies from the reserves. If we offer him leeway to recruit and train his own men as needed, I think he may agree to the deal."

The look on Sarutobi's face hinted he was intrigued by the idea, but the Hokage remained silent, allowing his teammates to expand on the idea further.

"Especially if we show him the evidence and threaten to leak it to the heads of the noble houses in Fire as well as the clans in Leaf. If that happens, he can't hope to win a civil war and will have to accept our terms once we dangle the other stick before him. Exile of sorts with the possibility of honorable return – that's implied by the confidentiality agreement anyway – or the gallows. It'd keep everyone happy and we can rotate the security compliment assigned to watch him as well as his own recruits on a periodic basis. Say, we recall one company every six months or so – yes, I think that'll work out," Homura added.

Sarutobi leaned forward in interest. But still, their idea wasn't yet complete. There remained, for one thing, the question of who'd manage Root with Danzo gone.

"What's to keep his own men here from reporting to him? We need someone to replace him as their commander."

"Jiraiya can do that. His loyalty is unquestioned and everyone respects him," Koharu replied, stating clearly that they were willing to make the concession on the subject of the Hokage succession. And this way, if Jiraiya couldn't be Hokage, he would head Root, at least.

"No, Jiraiya needs to run his intelligence network, but if I abdicate, I'll be free to take command of that little den of troubles," Sarutobi replied, thinking it over and indicating his assent to the deal.

That was acceptable. For Homura and Koharu both.

The rest of the discussion was about the minute details of the deal. When the two advisers finally left the room, happy with the bargain they'd struck – Kakashi on the Seat in return for Sarutobi in charge of Root, Danzo out of their hair, not to mention an averted civil war – the Third turned to Lord Watanbe and gave a nod.

"Thanks, Watanbe, for keeping your end of our deal," he said.

"You're welcome. This was a good deal itself."

"Yes. The Wind Daimyo is going to love it when he hears that one of the Ruling Four is in charge of the mission," the Hokage laughed.

"True," Watanbe agreed with a smile. "It would ensure his border's security for the near future until the other villages find out, if they find out."

"In the meanwhile, he gets to rebuild his Ninja Corps and we get to seed his whole country with spies."

"Wind will entwine itself tighter in Fire's embrace, which is even better."

"Yes."

"Tell me, Sarutobi, did you cook up the evidence on Danzo?" Watanbe asked solemnly.

The Third shot his friend a look that spoke a great deal. Understandably, Watanbe did not press him further.

xxxxx

Danzo stared at the four people before him with a steady gaze and took his seat. The way the chairs were positioned, it was clear that they wanted to confront him about something, siding four against one, but he did not yet know what.

"Danzo, thanks for answering our summons," Koharu said.

Danzo nodded.

"Is there a reason I was summoned?" he asked.

Koharu looked at the others and then turned to face the Root leader. Their eyes met.

"There is, yes," Homura replied.

Koharu cleared her throat.

"Shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato, Adviser to Sandaime Hokage Danzo, you're accused of sedition and high treason for conspiring to undermine the defense of realm. You're…"

"How dare you!" Danzo exploded angrily, his knuckles whitening as his clutch on his walking stick tightened.

"We dare," Homura retorted, "because we have evidence you ordered the assassination of Chuunin Mizuki, fellow shinobi of Konoha, selling national secrets to the enemy and conspiring with him to overthrow the lawful leadership of Konohagakure no Sato, and we're satisfied of your guilt."

"This is no trial, but a sham then," Danzo replied accusatorially.

"Perhaps," Koharu agreed, "But given the magnitude of your crimes, are you sure you want a trial, Danzo?"

"You no doubt want time to prepare your defense as well," Homura added.

Danzo glared offended. They were quick to catch on to so obvious a ploy as he'd known they would. But that was okay. He'd suspected something like this and left orders with his subordinates to come for him if he failed to return inside of three hours. After that, his freedom of movement would increase dramatically.

"Yes, I do."

"Then you wouldn't mind if we shared the evidence with the heads of the clans. We can do it now and have the trial on the day of your choosing," Koharu replied.

That gave the old war hawk pause. He'd forgotten that they wouldn't have dared move against him without a serious plan. Trapped in the room, contact with Root severed, he was powerless and they could move against him without fear for the immediate present. Danzo had no doubt that the _evidence_ they'd assembled against him was top-notch forgery, but many of the clan heads would only be too willing to condemn him. The established clan hierarchy had never been enamored by his dreams for a unified village without the clans to divide loyalties and they would jump at the chance to do him in.

"You think it'll be that easy to get rid of me?" he challenged them.

"We don't, but our minds are made up," Homura replied.

"The Daimyo's had enough of your nonsense," Watanbe, who'd remained silent until then, chimed.

"Your political position is untenable," Koharu spoke conversationally. "You cannot win this."

"Unless you're ready to kill me here and risk the suspicion of the clans, I'd say it's far from, as you put it, untenable. The moment I get out of this room, my Root will flock to me. You'll have a hard time getting your hands on me after that," Danzo retorted, resorting to naked threat of force. Without surprise on his side, he and his people would be massacred, but not without a terrible cost in lives lost. He counted on that recognized fact heavily to save his skin here.

Koharu shook her head.

"Unless we disperse the evidence even as we have you assassinated and then convene an emergency meeting to plead extenuating circumstances with the clans."

As Koharu completed her speech, Homura leaned forward in his seat.

"But it doesn't have to be that way, Danzo," he said. "We are prepared to give you a chance at life, provided you'll cooperate with us."

Danzo did not say anything.

"The deal is this. You'll assume control of the security contingent to Wind. We'll appoint a spy to report on your actions, but you'll be given command of two good companies from the reserves. You won't be able to influence Root anymore."

"You must think I'm an idiot. That deal has nothing for me."

"On the contrary, there is plenty for you. First, we bury the evidence of your treason. It doesn't leave this room, on the condition you don't involve in sedition against Konoha in Wind.

"Second, you will be persona non grata within Fire for four years. If you step foot inside the border within that time frame unless you're specifically summoned, we will distribute the incriminating evidence and hire missing nin to assassinate you. But follow the rules and we will destroy the proof of your guilt before you at the end of that period.

"Third, we don't care what you do in Wind so long as you don't undermine Suna and Wind. Not badly at least. We are not against you spying on them, building a spy network and passing on a few tidbits of information back to us. Since you'll be operating far from home base, we'll also look the other way if you decide you needed to recruit nin for whatever purpose on one condition. You'll rotate them through Konoha as well with the companies."

Danzo nodded. He could work with that. Hire thirty nin and send back ten.

"Four years is too long," he said, negotiating for more room. By the end of four years, they would have wrested control of Root completely out of his hands.

"You accept these terms or it's no deal," Sarutobi said, breaking his silence, "Also, I want you to introduce me to Root as their temporary commander in your absence. Whatever happens, Danzo, you must know this. Root is the price you pay for your indiscretions. The Daimyo and I will accept no less."

Danzo sighed.

"It's not as if I have a choice."

Sarutobi shook his head.

"Yes, you do. You can always be unreasonable about this and take up arms, but we hope you'll see reason. Rebuilding everything from the ground up will be hard, but you get to keep your neck to try again some other time."

"All right. We'll do it your way. How soon do you want me to leave?"

Homura smiled.

"Today would be great, but it's not a realistic timetable. Tomorrow or the day after it must be. I hope you understand our desire to keep the ANBU on standby as well as provide you with an ANBU escort till then."

"Of course. Now, is this meeting over or is there something else you want to strip me off?" Danzo asked, a small grin on his face. Like Sarutobi had said, he'd built Root from the ground up before and given five or six years, he had no doubt of his ability to build something even better, this time without morons like the one who'd ordered Mizuki's assassination in the ranks.

"A few minutes, if you will, Danzo," Sarutobi said. "I'll ask ANBU to go on standby."

Danzo nodded. As the Hokage communicated his orders and the minutes slowly ticked by, the soon to be ex-Root commander made and discarded plans in his mind for a newer, better force of loyal men. In all that time, the thought never struck him that his adversaries – the main one in particular – planned to stab him in the back as soon as the threat of Root stopped hanging over everyone's neck.

xxxxx

"Kakashi."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"I secured Homura and Koharu's support. I'll be taking command of Root tomorrow and abdicating the Seat in your favor in two weeks."

"Such a tight schedule? Shouldn't we give the villagers time to adjust?" Kakashi asked.

"They'll survive the shock, I'm sure," the Third said dismissively. "Be wary of the civilian council until you secure a majority in that snake pit with trustworthy men. You can count on Homura, Koharu and I for the present, but I'll be campaigning starting next month and will be on the field for most of next year leading Root and the ninja compliment of the Tea invasion. Jiraiya will be here, of course, as will Shikaku, and ANBU are loyal as always."

Kakashi nodded.

"Team 7?"

Sarutobi pushed forward a scroll.

"I'm granting the ANBU request to have your team transferred to their operations group. I'm thinking you're okay with it as you'd already agreed to have them test Team 7?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Then it's done. After they pass the ANBU course, they'll be deputed to Jiraiya for the next three years pending review. They'll remain under his command for the duration of this period or till the outbreak of open war between Fire and the other nations, whichever comes first.

"Jiraiya's already agreed to take on your team as apprentices. He came by earlier and I gave him the news first. If you want to discuss your team over with him, he'll probably be hanging around any of the women's baths or springs in the village tonight."

Kakashi nodded and made to rise from his seat. The Third stopped him in his tracks with a wave.

"On that note, you can have that conversation you're aching to have with your team tomorrow. Right now, I have a task for you and Gai. I've sent for him. We'll wait till he joins us."

Kakashi shrugged and pulled out his Icha Icha lovingly. He suspected he wasn't going to get to spend a lot of quality time with his precious in the future.

xxxxx

"Anko?"

"Yes, honey," she replied, caressing his face as she lay on his chest.

"We may not be able to go on that vacation we'd planned a month from now," he said.

Mitarashi Anko lifted her head and looked at her soldier. The month long mission had been extended once HQ learnt that her mark, Daisuke Namba had fallen in love and now, he regularly discussed state secrets with her, unknowingly passing them on to Fire.

"Why?" she asked.

"Fire's going to invade us. Everybody's been put on alert."

"Is it going to be okay?"

Namba shook his head.

"No, it's not. Our allies in Lightning and Cloud have abandoned us as Fire's accusing us of aiding and abetting Orochimaru's failed attack on Konoha."

"What are we going to do?"

"We're hoping saner heads will prevail in Fire's court, but the order's been sent out to the fleet to report in early so that they'll be refurbished and out at sea in time to thwart the invasion." At her uncomprehending gaze, he explained what he'd heard in the high level meeting that day, "When the invasion starts, we expect a major landing force from the sea. If we can crush it, our forces won't have to face the enemy on multiple fronts and won't become severely extended as a result. Then, we should be able to fight them off."

"Ah!"

xxxxx

The alarm cut off abruptly as it crashed against the wall and shattered. Sakura lost a lot of clocks that way, though this one was Naruto's.

"Wakey, wakey!" Naruto shouted from the foot of the bed.

Sakura and Sasuke grumbled and glared balefully at the blond. But they sat up and stretched.

"You're ready already?" Sasuke asked.

"Are you kidding me? I woke twenty minutes early so that there won't be any rush to the bathroom. There's only one in the house, remember?"

Sakura immediately threw her blanket over her teammate and made a run for it. She slammed the door in his face just as he reached it.

"Pinky, you cheated!" Sasuke shouted as Naruto laughed uproariously behind him.

"Screw you, Uke! Ladies first," Sakura shouted back from behind the door.

"That part is debatable," Sasuke grumbled to himself as he walked back. At Naruto, who was still laughing, he scratched his butt and glared, "What are you laughing at, prick?"

Naruto smirked back.

"Nothing. I'm going to prepare some instant ramen. You want some?"

"Yeah. Better prepare for the psycho too, or she'll take it personally."

Both boys shuddered. Kiba had leered one too many times at the Haruno just yesterday and found out what happened when she got pissed. The mutt was going to be singing soprano for some time to come. But the incident was just an aberration. Team 7 were ambivalent about the sudden interest the other rookies showed in them, but they tried to be sociable. It was just that Kiba got on Sakura's nerves and Ino on Naruto's, which made for some interesting arguments. Fortunately, except for poor Kiba – and everyone agreed he deserved it – there had been no physical altercations. On the plus side, however, Shikamaru and Sasuke seemed to get along well enough as did Naruto with Kiba and Chouji.

"Her temper's something else. You better watch what you say around her," Naruto advised softly.

"Me? You're the one who's usually pulling her leg. I stay away from the psycho," Sasuke retorted a bit too loudly.

"What was that, Uke?" Sakura shouted in an annoyed voice from the bathroom.

The Uchiha paled and the Uzumaki burst into guffaws. Life within Team 7 was never boring.

"You put the scrolls away," Naruto said, pointing at the mess on the floor from last night's study session when Sakura tutored them. They'd started having these sessions once or twice a week after Kakashi suggested they use their copious free time to train in the month before the Chuunin Exam finals and now, it'd become kind of a tradition.

Sasuke muttered deprecations as he set about his task and his teammate set about his.

Later, at break of dawn, they entered the training field for the morning workout. But someone was already there to greet them.

"So you must be Team 7?" the white haired man said.

"And you're Jiraiya of the Sannin. Come to ask directions again?" Naruto asked snidely. None of Team 7 liked to have their morning schedule interrupted, he most of all.

"And you're the wiseass brat who beat Suna's Jinchuuriki. How you doing, brat?" Jiraiya responded jovially.

Naruto glared.

"We exercise in this field every morning, Jiraiya-sama," Sakura said, shooting a look at her two teammates, "but we can move elsewhere if you want to use it."

The sannin laughed.

"One of you is polite, I see," he chortled. "I came here to see the three of you, actually. I've heard a lot about Team 7 from Sarutobi-sensei and I wanted to see for myself. So, I'll go and sit out of the way in that corner and observe in silence. In return, I'll give a few pointers at end of the session. How's that for a deal?"

Team 7 looked at one another. A chance to gain a Sannin's insights on their techniques and their teamwork? Like they'd pass that.

"You got a deal, Old Man," Naruto replied with a grin. They were going to have so much fun.

xxxxx

Kabuto fiddled with the ring in his pant pocket. It had been a close call, but he'd managed to successfully evade the Akatsuki duo after two weeks of hide and seek. Now, it was time to check on his comrades, who, if rumor was to be believed, were corralled in one of the research facilities under siege. It wasn't that he wanted to save the sorry lot of idiots and morons, but he had use for them and the longer they managed to hold out, the better his prospects.

xxxxx

Kakashi found Team 7 at the training ground seated before Jiraiya, who was jovially chatting with the genin and giving out pointers. He waved at his students and with a nod of acknowledgement to the sannin, made his way to his team.

"Jiraiya-sama."

"I was just having a talk with your team, Kakashi. You got some good kids here," the sannin said.

Kakashi looked at his little sprouts.

"I do," he acknowledged proudly. Then, to Team 7, but only because he believed in breaking news in the most shocking way possible, "Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura… Today's the last day we'll be working together as a team."

"What?" Naruto fairly shouted.

"Yeah, what's happened?" Sakura seconded.

Kakashi did not reply to their questions. He was more concerned by Sasuke's silence and the fact that the raven-haired boy refused to look at him. He understood how the boy must feel, hearing that the team he'd come to look upon as family was breaking up.

"Sasuke, look at me."

Sasuke reluctantly looked up at his teammates' nudging.

"I'm not abandoning any of you. You're my family."

Sasuke still did not speak.

"Stop sulking, Sasuke," Naruto said, slapping the other on his back. Then, shooting Kakashi a meaningful look, "I'm sure Kakashi-sensei's got a good reason. Don't you, Sensei?"

Kakashi shot his student his winning smile. If it had an effect on Naruto, he did not show it. The jounin shrugged mentally. Sometimes the smile worked and sometimes it did not.

"Promise me you won't share it with your friends until you hear the official announcement."

Nods all around. Even from Sasuke.

"I'm going to become the Hokage sometime in the next few weeks."

"Really?" Naruto and Sakura asked.

Sasuke just stared.

"Yes, really."

"What's to become of us?" That was Sasuke. And from his tone, it was clear he meant Team 7 with Kakashi.

"Well, you'll always be my wonderful students. As for what's to happen to the three of you specifically, you're ANBU recruits now."

"And you'll be my apprentices," Jiraiya added.

Team 7 glared at the sannin.

"You knew. You came to scout us out."

Jiraiya shrugged.

"I don't like him," Naruto said to Kakashi. His teammates nodded in agreement, glaring at the legendary ninja.

"Now, don't be like that. Jiraiya-sama's an excellent teacher. He trained the Yondaime."

"We know that, Sensei," Sakura replied without breaking her glare.

"And he's the author of Icha Icha series. I'm hoping he'll be able to wean you two away from each other, Naruto and Sasuke. Man-loving is well and good, but you haven't experienced anything until you've known the silky-softness of a woman, boys. Jiraiya-sama knows all about that."

"Eeeew!" Team 7 said in unison, Naruto and Sasuke unconsciously inching away from each other.

Kakashi ignored Jiraiya's raucous laughter and grinned innocently at his students.

"Anyways," he said in a solemn voice, "I want you three to remember that you're ANBU now, not to mention my students. You got the example of the other Team 7s before you to live up to as well as the creed of ANBU. I hope you will not fail."

The genin nodded.

"You'll probably start your training tomorrow or day after… Yes, Jiraiya-sama?"

"Actually, I've asked that Team 7 be excused for a month. I want to spend some time with the kids on the field and get to know them before they disappear into ANBU Corps black hole and reappear as trained operatives."

Kakashi nodded.

"I didn't know that." To his team, he said, "The ANBU course will be easier than the training I gave you in some ways and harder in others. It'll certainly push your limits, and further strengthen your mind and body. You can opt out now, but once you go in, I don't want to hear that you quit. There's no prohibition against quitting the course halfway through, but that option is not open to Team 7. You will stick together, rough whatever they throw at you, and you will pull through."

The genin nodded.

"Good. I'm proud of you."

"Congratulations, Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke said, changing the subject.

"Yeah, Godaime," Naruto seconded, flashing Kakashi a big smile.

"Me, too, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura's smile matched Naruto's in immensity and perhaps even exceeded it.

Kakashi beamed at Sasuke. He was glad his young charge had gotten over his childish sulk, for all that the reasons for it were understandable. And he was happy his team hadn't thrown a fit. It would have made him feel guiltier for not having consulted them on the offer earlier.

"Thanks, guys. We'll go and have a big treat this evening to celebrate."

That got Team 7's loud approval. Well, Sasuke did not join in, but even his lips quirked upwards in a little smile.

"And since I'll miss my favorite students, henceforth, we'll lunch together every Friday whenever you're free and in the village."

The relief on Sasuke's face at the announcement almost made Kakashi hug the boy. Not that Sakura and Naruto didn't look relieved either, but it simply meant much more for Sasuke, who'd lost a family so horrifically once and then gained it again. The jounin's words had finally convinced the boy that his second family wasn't breaking up.

"Now, what were you and Jiraiya-sama doing when I came in?" Kakashi asked, giving the young Uchiha scion a fatherly pat on his shoulders.

xxxxx

Colonel Kita Terujiro, commander of Third Regiment, Gem Division in charge of the defense of the southern flank of the Hi no Kuni salient fiddled with his saucer of sake. He did not look at his two aides as he brooded treason, but they shot furtative glances at each other in a small, rundown restaurant on the Fire side of the border.

"Terujiro," Mononobe Shota, the Fire minister who'd come to negotiate the price of treason urged, sensing the deal slipping away, "think of the plight of your family and the families of your men on either side of the border in the event of war. Think of your men. Tea is outnumbered and cannot hope to win. If the war drags on, then the borderlands will be subject to more depredations by marching armies. You'll be doing all of them – civilians, soldiers, their families – a favor."

"I never asked for this. I never supported the plans to support Orochimaru in his suicidal attempt. It was the fault of those idiots in the capital," Terujiro complained.

"And need I remind you that it is those very same idiots who're leading Tea towards certain ruin now. The very same officials who'll sit safe and sound in their homes while you and yours suffer the indignities of war firsthand. It is insanity to resist Fire without Lightning's support."

"They trust our navy to hold you off."

The minister snorted.

"So you'll trounce us at sea," he replied, "but we'll crush you on land. The war will be lost or won on the ground and you have no hope there. Look at you. Tea doesn't even have the manpower to station regiments far from their areas of recruitment."

"I'd think you'd be glad for the fact," Terujiro responded with a slight smile and a loosening of his shoulders.

"I am. Don't mistake that. But it just goes to show how unprepared you are."

The Colonel downed his saucer of sake and grimaced. The quality was what you would expect from such an establishment. He turned to his aides.

"I'll do what my men want me to. What do the common soldiers say?" he asked, knowing the answer full well.

The first aide shrugged.

"They think that the capital has brought this war upon us and our families are going to suffer as a result," he said.

"They're worried about their families," added the other, "We felt out a few closemouthed men. They don't have a problem with what we're doing, Sir. It is not their war."

Terujiro turned to face the minister then.

"Let us negotiate the price of high treason then, Shota. How much are you willing to pay me and my men to let your people through?"

xxxxx

Author's notes:

Another chapter complete and this one had **two** scenes with Team 7! Yep, things are definitely improving. LOL Please leave reviews.

For those of you who didn't get it, the evidence against Danzo was forged. Sarutobi suspected that Danzo was responsible for Mizuki's assassination, which nearly derailed Konoha's plans to deal with the Oto-Suna alliance and indirectly put Fire's long term plans in jeopardy. However, he saw a use for it to deal with a thorn in the side and to get Kakashi installed as Godaime using the deal he'd struck with Watanbe all those chapters back.

Thanks to RakeeshJ4 for serving as an idea sounding board for the political maneuvering against Danzo. Also, link to the map of the elemental countries is on the profile page.


	15. A von Braun for Konoha

The Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 14: A von Braun for Konoha

Disclaimer: Why can't the US government help me with a bail out?!

Luck was with him. He'd not only evaded Akatsuki, but also made contact with the surviving remnants of Orochimaru's experiments in one of the last surviving safe houses.

In addition, he'd avoided capture by Konoha ANBU. It wasn't that he wanted to escape Leaf's clutches, but he wanted to surrender on his own terms rather than fall into the hands of Konoha's finest while they were still well and truly pissed about events in the past. Especially since chances were about even on that front that the captor would choose to slit his throat in payment for dead colleagues and claim field exigencies afterwards. All that was left to do was find someone senior enough with the smarts to understand the enormous windfall to be had for Fire and Leaf from the goldmine of knowledge he carried on his shoulders.

And he knew just where to find such a man, having espied his quarry with his companions by mere chance at a cheap diner yesterday evening.

xxxxx

The three members of Team 7 lay sweating rivers and gasping for breath. Reality sucked – as apparently, did they - but they couldn't deny fact. Especially when their master and antagonist for the present, Jiraiya, wasn't even breathing hard at the end of the spar.

"Kids these days have no endurance," the sannin complained aloud, staring down at his students in mock disgust. Secretly, the master spy was impressed by Team 7's performance in the morning workouts, but he was a miser with praise. There were very few achievements in Jiraiya's book worthy of a pat in the back and the brats were months away from their first one.

Team 7 was less than impressed by their prowess, however. In many ways, Jiraiya was a kinder teacher than Kakashi had ever been, and easier going to boot, but his lessons were lots tougher. They hadn't felt so inadequate since the first few days of training as genin.

But Jiraiya was only getting started on his tirade. By rote, it was the same annoying speech he'd used with that sorry brat Minato and his team. Designed to irk students, he'd changed it a little so as to reflect ground realities. Seven days into their mentorship, Team 7 was familiar enough with the content to have memorized it.

"Oh, Sensei and the Godaime must really hate me to stick such a bunch of losers on me," the sannin moaned theatrically, striking a kabuki pose to highlight his despair. "Why in my day…"

"Genin shit gold, peed floods and farted cyclones," Naruto grumbled, reciting Jiraiya's standard diatribe from memory. Sasuke and Sakura threw their glares into the mix.

The retaliatory knock on the blonde's head was loud enough to be heard many yards away and left a bump in the head to serve as a reminder not to interpret their teacher. Team 7's glares at their tormentor grew venomous in their intensity, but Jiraiya ignored them. Or remained oblivious. For all Team 7 knew, that smile the sannin sported now could be because of some perverted thought that'd surfaced in his shallow mind.

A few seconds later, Jiraiya shook himself out of his stupor and wiped that smile and a bit of drool off his face, lending credence to the perverted thoughts theory. The revelation didn't really surprise Team 7. They had learnt that their new sensei was an even bigger lecher than Kakashi.

"You understand what the problem is, don't you?" Jiraiya asked in a serious voice. Maybe, he thought wryly, shooting his petulant looking godson a gentle look, the kids could do without the standard speech for the next few days. That way, it'd be all that more annoying when he started using it again.

Nodding, Team 7 pulled themselves up for the formal debrief of the exercise.

"Sasuke and Sakura, you don't have enough chakra to sustain the levels of intensity you fight at for long periods. Sasuke's seal helps some in this regard, but it's nowhere near close enough to what's needed. Naruto, you have the chakra, but your control is atrocious."

"You're a sannin," Sasuke pointed out. "We can't hope to defeat you."

"And we've done well against others with the training Kakashi-sensei gave us," Sakura added defensively.

"You did," Jiraiya conceded instantly, "but there are nearly a hundred S-rank nin out there and they're all endurance demons. Some are loyal to their village and some not. But that's beside the point, which is that you will be required to face them sometime or the other."

"We're genin," Sakura protested. "You can't expect us to face S-rank nin by ourselves."

The pink-tressed kunoichi ignored the glares both her teammates shot her at her words. Neither Sasuke nor Naruto liked to be told that anything was beyond them, convinced, as they were, of the invincibility of youth.

"A genin is the father of the jounin," Jiraiya retorted.

Team 7 had no real honest answer to that. It was the truth, after all.

"I'm your teacher because the village expects you to become accomplished S-rank killers in time for the coming war," the sannin elaborated. "ANBU school will cram you with all the skills you'll need to survive and once they are done, I'll equip you with all the necessary tools it takes to hunt S-rank nins and survive unscathed. Both the Third and the Fifth are in agreement on that goal."

Team 7 exchanged a glance between themselves. This was certainly news to them.

Jiraiya nodded, content that the brats understood. They'd put themselves through hell just to be sure they didn't disappoint Kakashi now.

"We won't be having these sessions from tomorrow. We'll be crossing over into Rice and there're still remnants of Oto around. We'll need to conserve our energy in case we run into them."

A brief pause.

"So, whose turn is it to cook breakfast?"

xxxxx

Anko carefully read the note the hawker/spy had slipped her at the market in the secure environ of a public bathroom. The instructions were precise and the action detailed required at least six experienced operatives to execute by the book. Her first problem then was that she was the only Leaf ANBU around as far as she knew. HQ, in its infinite wisdom, was once again overreaching itself with objectives whose scope and ambition beggared belief.

But the undercover special jounin took the impossible orders in stride. She would execute them or die trying. If she succeeded, all good and well, and if she failed, she wouldn't be around to take the flak for failure. Still, she preferred being alive to dead, and as she tore up the message and dreamt up plans for the operation, she confessed to herself that she needed to find a way to achieve the mission critical objectives – of which there were three – or it was most definitely going to be the latter. Not just for her but a lot of other brave souls from the corps.

Twenty minutes later, as she was feeling constipated of ideas, the answer came to her in a spark of inspiration. The solution, as her ex-teacher – may the denizens of hell feast on his rotten, goat raping, diseased soul forever – used to say, lay in misdirection and a generous application of fire. She'd make a trip tomorrow to one of the caches that her very thoughtful superiors had created long ago for just such a rainy day and she'd be all set.

Soon, Tea would learn all about special operations and tactical flexibility, and why having all your eggs in one basket is no way to run things in either war or peace.

xxxxx

The last of the hundred seventy passengers boarded the merchantman. Soon after, the first of three ships set sail out of Fire's premier harbor. The official destination of its voyage was Suna. In a little while, its sister ships would follow suit within the hour headed ostensibly for Wave and Stone. But the innocuous seeming passengers weren't.

Later in the day, the three ships rendezvoused over the horizon and set sail for the real objective where their human cargo would execute their commando raid.

xxxxx

"Karin, isn't there something you can do?" Juugo asked, sounding rather sane for the moment.

Karin shook her head. She was gifted in the medical arts, but Kimmimaro's consumption was something even Kabuto had given up as hopeless. And the Yakushi was infinitely more talented than she was at healing.

Juugo stared forlornly at the gasping form of his friend. He knew that the clammy, musty atmosphere of the underground safe house was responsible for the worsening of Kimimaro's symptoms. But there was nothing to do about it.

Konoha, which had appeared weak and deserving of ridicule for so long, had proven decisively in the last month why it was the strongest hidden village on the field of battle. The vastly reduced numbers of cursed seal bearers and destroyed Oto bore emphatic testimony to the fact. Any Oto nin – be they normal or cursed – who dared venture outside had been set upon by teams of Konoha ANBU. The Leaf shinobi split the fools from their comrades and defeated them in detail, crushing them with a combination of numbers, brawn, smarts, ruthlessness and guile that was fearsome to watch.

In the end, after enough of the idiots had died, wiser heads prevailed. They convinced the survivors to remain ensconced in the hideaway and bide their time until situation on the outside became less dangerous. That was two weeks back. Events since then had proven them right in their decision, for they and their dependents were alive to crib about their sodden accommodation and their others who'd opted to stay in the open weren't.

Unfortunately, while hiding from Leaf nin had worked rather well for almost everyone concerned, Kimmimaro's failing health had taken a turn for the worse in the unhealthy air inside the cave and the bone-wielder lay at death's door. Only his indomitable will kept him tethered to the world, though even that will was failing fast.

"We have to get Kabuto," Juugo said, his voice laden with pain and distress. He glared at Karin, daring her to say otherwise.

Except for Karin and two others, the room's occupants inched away from the unstable young man. When the mood struck him, Juugo was easily the most murderous of a murderous lot and no one wanted to mess with him.

"He'll come when he comes," Karin responded, staring down the progenitor of the cursed seal before the killing fancy overtook his mind. She was afraid like the others, but she knew that the more nervous he got, the crazier Juugo became. So, in the interest of self-preservation, she wanted to ease away his anxieties.

"I don't want him to die," Juugo muttered in distress, staring down at the ground and blinking back tears.

The others inched back even further. Juugo was exposing a part of himself that he'd never shown any of them before. And different around him usually meant a gory death. It really was time to get the hell out of dodge.

Karin ruthlessly suppressed the cold spike that shot down her spine and put an arm around the cursed bloodline wielder. Juugo looked at her with something akin to wonder. No one had ever treated him thus. Other than Kimimaro, that is.

"Let's hope he'll get here soon enough," she said, squeezing his shoulders and grabbing him in a comforting hug. She did it in the hope the maniac would relax at her action because she knew they were all for it otherwise.

Unwittingly, with that act of kindness, she also sealed her reputation as the baddest motherfucker of them all among the witnesses. And surprisingly, Juugo relaxed, which further convinced everyone present that her mojo was very powerful.

xxxxx

Under the light of stars, half-hidden by the thick canopy in this portion of the woods, a maniacal grin blossomed on Anko's face as her shovel hit the box lid. She patiently cleared the earth and hauled the family chest wrapped in waterproof canvas out of the hole. Applying chakra and running through the unlocking seals in quick succession, she slammed her right hand on the seal matrix and the lock clicked open.

Inside, she found two thousand note batches of high quality explosive and incendiary seals – the good stuff she'd come for. She helped herself to a few hundred of both, along with kunai, shuriken, field rations, medical kit, chakra and blood pills and various other goodies in a storage scroll. Then summoning her favorite snake, she had it swallow the sealing spool and banished it. This way, if she was stopped by a patrol on the way back to town, she could act the part of a lost young woman and get away even if they searched her.

Finally, she locked and sealed the chest, and she returned it to its earthly grave, taking care to hide the leftover dirt in an old bag that she threw a hundred yards away from the burial site. Finally, she spread undisturbed dirt and leaves over the freshly covered pit to cover her activities and began the long walk back to her apartment and her paramour. She took her time as there was no danger of her lover waking up. She'd drugged him asleep earlier in the day just so that he wouldn't stir awake in the middle of the night and find her missing.

xxxxx

Team 7 lay side by side on their stomachs with their knees in the air on a meadow unmindful of the midday sun over their heads. Sasuke lay in the middle, a twig of grass in his mouth and Naruto and Sakura flanked him on either side. A grasshopper jumped into the air and landed on a bright green leaf of grass mere inches from Naruto's face. The blonde swatted at it when it jumped again to land on his face and with a yawn, turned to face his teammates.

"Pinky," Sasuke said aloud.

"Hmm?" Sakura replied sleepily.

"The old fart seem good to you?"

Sakura looked at the Uchiha in disbelief.

"You saw how hard he trains us, didn't you?"

"But he hasn't taught us anything new."

Sakura turned to lie on her side facing Sasuke.

"Yeah, so? Techniques aren't everything. You and Naruto know more techniques than me and I beat you a third of the time."

The comment earned her a glare from Sasuke. Team 7 hated to lose and of the three, the raven-haired genin hated losing the most.

"Well, we need to be getting stronger."

"We're plenty strong already, Uke. We're candidate ANBU and we haven't been genin for a year."

"He is out there," Sasuke replied, alluding to his brother. "We need to get stronger."

Sasuke himself looked a little surprised by his statement. Before Team 7, with no one to consider family, vengeance for the Uchiha massacre had been a very personal affair that he wanted to share with no one. Things were different now. Team 7 was family and a very tightly knit one at that and he wanted them by his side, basking in their approval even as he ripped out his bastard brother's heart.

Sakura nodded. She understood her teammate perfectly. Her eyes caught Naruto's and she saw him following the conversation intently.

"And we will, Sasuke," she said, turning back to face him. "Jiraiya-sama taught the Yondaime and look how that turned out."

Sasuke nodded.

"I'll grant you that," he acknowledged. "He better train us as hard though."

Sakura nodded.

"I'm sure he will. What brought this on, anyways?"

"Nothing. I was just thinking."

Sakura nodded again. The topic at an end, she wondered where next to guide the conversation. She used to discuss family with Ino, but with both Sasuke and Naruto being orphans, she didn't want to go there. They weren't interested in girls – and she didn't want to have that talk with them, anyways – so that left training or gossip.

"You think Kakashi-sensei's been named Hokage by now?"

Sasuke shrugged.

"He should have. Today's Wednesday and Kakashi-sensei said he was going to be pronounced Godaime publically on Tuesday."

Sakura nodded and became silent, plucking a small clump of grass of the ground.

"Who's going to cook tonight?" she asked after a minute.

Sasuke glared at her.

"What do you mean 'who's going to cook tonight?' It's your turn."

"I'll trade you a day's chores if you'll do it."

"Three days."

"I'll do your weekly laundry."

"You don't have to do anything at all except put the clothes in the washing machine."

"And take them out and hang them out to dry."

"Throw in pressing my clothes and it's a deal."

"After we reach Konoha."

Sasuke nodded, a smile on his face. As a matter of fact, he had a huge pile of laundry that he'd been meaning to get to for years.

Sakura smiled as well. Her teammate didn't know it, but she knew girls who'd pay to get their hands on his wardrobe. In fact, she'd make them pay.

"Deal."

"Deal."

"Could you do my laundry as well," Naruto quipped.

Sakura glared at him.

"It'll only be four pairs of pants and shirts."

Sasuke sat up.

"That reminds me. How come your wardrobe's so empty?" he asked.

Naruto stared at him meaningfully. Even still, it took Sasuke to understand the obvious.

"So who took care of you when you were a kid?" Sakura asked in a quiet voice.

Naruto stared into the horizon.

"I was at the orphanage till my ninth birthday and then I had to leave it. I've lived alone since then," he said.

Sakura gasped. From the glares Naruto got from many civilians and the muttered complaints she'd heard them whisper, she knew that her teammate had a harsh childhood. But to think that they would kick a defenseless boy out of the orphanage at nine… It simply boggled the mind.

"They kicked you out?" she asked aloud.

Sasuke looked rather uninterested by the question, but if Naruto knew the look in his eyes – and the blonde knew his teammate – someone was going to get hurt at the orphanage. Team 7 took care of its own.

Happy to feel so loved, Naruto looked Sakura in the eye gravely.

"No. I beat the crap out of the two bullies who tried to give me a very special birthday present two days early."

Sasuke snorted in amusement. Sakura blushed at having misread the situation so badly.

"You were that good even then?" Sakura asked, sounding impressed.

"Nah. I'd been only training for two years by then. I was nowhere close to where I was even before we became genin, but I was light years ahead of those two. So, I got a free scrapes and I gave them both black eyes and kicked them in the balls. Many, many times," Naruto replied with a small grin on his face as he relived fond memories.

Sakura winced. Sasuke grunted.

"You were a right bastard even then."

"They'd beaten me up for the previous four birthdays just because they could. I was merely returning the favor and showing them how it feels like to be beaten when you're down."

Sasuke tensed up again at the implication that the orphanage had neglected Naruto.

"Oh, relax, Sasuke. These things happen. There were forty children at the orphanage and only three caretakers."

"They should have punished the SOBs the first time."

"One of them was that bastard Ichiro. I don't think he's ever listened to anyone ever. The other was that prick Micheru. If his parents ever whooped him, it didn't do that asshole any good."

Sasuke and Sakura nodded. They knew of the two bullies all right. And they even vaguely remembered rumors that some blonde kid had beaten them up pretty bad. It was just that they'd never connected the dots before.

"The kids at the orphanage were afraid of me after that. Probably because after I got tired of kicking them in the balls, I took a stone and started hitting them all over the body with it until my arms grew tired. So, old man Hokage gave a good scolding and pulled me out of the asylum. That's one of two good things that happened to me that birthday."

"The other?" Sakura asked, even though she had a hint what Naruto was going to say.

Naruto laughed aloud.

"Those two bastards probably won't be able to father children and pass on their stupidity to the next generation.

"So, my laundry?"

xxxxx

Jiraiya paid for the bottle of hot sake and poured himself a nice saucer of the good stuff. He had just taken a well-deserved sip when a stranger slid into the seat next to him.

"Jiraiya-sama."

Jiraiya turned to face the man with a frown on his face. He hated having his evening drinks interrupted by men. The company of women was always welcome, of course.

"Why shouldn't I kill you where you stand?" the sannin asked, wiping the frown off his face and replacing it with the cold mask of an accomplished killer. He recognized the intruder and was not at all pleased to see the traitorous asshole in this bar.

Kabuto smiled disarmingly in return, making sure that his hands were on the bar top. He didn't want to give the master spy a reason to feel threatened – never mind the older man could swat him aside like a fly – and risk compromising his mission. Jiraiya was arguably the most powerful of the sannin in battle, after all, Orochimaru-sama's arguments to the contrary notwithstanding.

"Because I've turned a new leaf?" the late Orochimaru's aide replied jovially. Seeing that the other did not appreciate the humor, he amended, "As things stand, I'm a dead man walking. I came to propose a deal to rectify the situation."

"I doubt you have anything that'd have either Konoha and Hi no Kuni pardon you," Jiraiya replied, sounding uninterested.

"I was the Sannin Orochimaru's primary research assistant. The body of knowledge that I carry between my shoulders is enormous. Konoha will find it very useful in the troubled times ahead."

Jiraiya was suddenly interested, but he couldn't let Kabuto know that. The traitor wouldn't have come a calling if it were the only playing card he in his hands. Not when Konoha's operators were hoarding Orochimaru's research like bees do nectar. And Jiraiya definitely wanted the best possible deal possible from Konoha's viewpoint.

"That'd maybe get you a pardon for all the spying you did, but Konoha's plenty strong on its own. And we've recovered a wealth of information about Orochimaru's research. Not good enough."

Kabuto nodded, but the slight tensing in his shoulders left him. He knew the game and the sannin's words meant the other was willing to deal. Signaling the barkeeper over, the spectacled medic ordered a single saucer of sake and took a sip as Jiraiya poured himself a couple more.

"Perhaps," he admitted. "Which is just as well that I come offering the last survivor of the bone wielder line in return for my life and freedom."

Jiraiya shrugged. Yes, Konoha loved bloodlines, but not enough to let a traitor like Kabuto go.

Kabuto took note of the sannin's uninterested reaction and knew it was time to throw one of the big bones on the table.

"I can give you information about Akatsuki."

Jiraiya's heart skipped a beat. He knew about Akatsuki, all right. And he believed that nothing good could ever come out of the association of ten S-rank missing nin. For Konoha or anyone else. Certainly not when said bunch were very interested in bijuu in general and jinchuuriki in particular.

"Oh?" he quipped. The fact that Kabuto brought up Akatsuki meant the medic was aware he knew the name and was interested in them. So, he didn't bother trying to deny the organization's existence. That'd compromise his negotiating position.

"Yes. I have with me the ring Orochimaru took with him when he 'left' the organization."

Jiraiya smiled inwardly. That wasn't the way he'd heard it. Itachi, god bless his traitorous, sociopathic soul, had done one of the few good things in his misbegotten life when he thoroughly kicked Orochimaru's ass out of Akatsuki. But the Toad Hermit admitted to himself, he had never heard about any rings. The way Kabuto spoke, they must be pretty important.

"Konoha will want the ring, of course," he said even as he asked himself, _why would a ring be so important?_

Kabuto nodded. He would be glad to be rid of the ring to speak the truth. After they struck the deal, that is.

"I have it in a safe place. You can have it if you pardon me," he replied with a satisfied smile.

"Konoha will also need the identities of Akatsuki members."

"Easily done," Kabuto agreed, happily. Then, as a none-too-subtle reminder, "I don't know all of them, but all that I know about them is yours. If you pardon me."

Jiraiya nodded, shaking his head at the second blatant reminder from the other. Kabuto must be in a tight spot to act like that.

"It's almost enough to clinch the deal," Jiraiya replied, "but I need something else."

"I'll deliver twenty B/A-rank nin. Their loyalty to Orochimaru is questionable and they might be willing to make Konoha their home, circumstances permitting," Kabuto replied. Some of the cursed seal bearers, Kimmimaro being the biggest of them, were hardcore Orochimaru supporters, but surely, Jiraiya didn't need to know that now. Especially when Kimmimaro wasn't going to pose a problem to anyone in a few short days once the poison Kabuto had fed him as medicine completed what the consumption began.

"Let me guess, they all hated the prick. What did he do?"

"Conducted experiments on them and gave them variations of the seal he gave Sasuke. These are all advanced users and a few have the potential to become S-rank nin."

Jiraiya smiled. One bone wielder, he wasn't sure about, but so much new blood… Yes, Konoha wanted Kabuto, all right!

"You give me those nin, the ring, the intel you have on Akatsuki, and your brain for Leaf to pick, and we have a deal."

"You speak for the Sandaime?"

"Godaime, now. Sarutobi-sensei has abdicated in favor of Hatake Kakashi."

Kabuto nodded.

"Of course, if you try to screw me over, I'll kill you."

The spectacled medic nodded again. Such was the price of doing business.

xxxxx

The principal naval port of Tea was protected by patrols up to three miles out at sea at night. During the day, the watch on the lighthouse kept an eye out on the seafront.

Even with a very small crew of three, the patrol boats were cramped and the construction was shoddy. The job itself was thankless and dangerous, with a boat disappearing every few months. Every so often, a piece of wreckage from one of the missing boats would wash ashore identifiable by the unique materials used in the hull. As near as anyone could figure it, the hulls had simply come apart for no reason whatsoever. This created a lot of resentment among the sailors and was a big morale problem that the Tea Navy had long neglected to address.

On this cloudy night, the chief in charge of Patrol 7 squinted against the glare of the searchlight at the telltale against the dark horizon. His intuition told him something was there out on the edge of his vision, but in the damned dark, he couldn't be sure. He turned to his crew. One had his hand on the throttle of the outboard, ready to make a run for it and the other had the signal flare grasped lightly in one hand. His bow and quiver of arrows lay by his side untouched, as did the Chief's. In the event of a sighting, their first responsibility was to shoot the flare to warn his compatriots in the harbor that the fracas was afoot and only then try their best to survive.

"What's it, Chief?" the steersman asked in a whisper.

The chief held up his hand to still further speech. The steersman clutched the throttle and rudder tighter. So passed the next few minutes.

Finally, the chief relaxed and heaved a sigh of relief.

"It's nothing. I thought I saw something and…" he started before trailing off. Having turned to face his men as he addressed them, he gaped at their decapitated heads and the porcelain mask wielding stranger standing over their corpses.

His surprise was fleeting, however as his head rolled off with a splash into the water and his body followed close behind. The dark night hid well the splatter and spray of blood as the ANBU wiped her blade and returned it to its utilitarian sheath. Seconds later, the lone operator was joined by another thirty-odd of her compatriots and she joined them as they trotted towards the harbor entrance less than eight hundred meters away. Her group was but one of six that'd water walked more than a mile from the three merchantman moored out at sea to fall upon the cream of the Tea Navy in the next few minutes.

Searchlights and vigilant crews didn't stand a chance against both the byakugan and the maneuverability that the ability to walk on water gave shinobi, after all.

Everyone knew that ports were vulnerable to attacks from the sea by shinobi and harbors were usually protected by ninja and patrol boats, but without Cloud, Tea did not have the nins to put out at sea at night and do all the other things that needed doing. And while other nations had tried this tactic with varying amounts of success, it was Tea's weakness in the nin department combined with the knowledge of the fleet's movements from Anko's intelligence reports that gave Konoha's planners the confidence that a preemptive strike using ANBU from the sea would be very successful.

xxxxx

The seals were all in place and the teams had avoided detection so far. It was time to cause some mayhem and teach the Tea pussies lessons in manners.

So, as the second hand counted down to zero, the ANBU spread out, heading towards the barracks where the off-duty marine security complement was billeted as well as the various other offices across the base.

At precisely four in the morning, the seals struck to the screws on all the moored warships exploded. The explosions flooded some of the ships and set them against the shallow bottom, but the rest survived with varying degrees of damage to the hull. The screws were all lost, of course.

Seconds later, the explosive seals on the roof and walls of the marine's barracks exploded as did the lighthouse and the signals station. The latter was merely to cover tracks as the operators were long dead and the messages stolen by Leaf ANBU. Intel officers waited on the ships out at sea to examine them.

xxxxx

Namba was snoring softly with his left arm wrapped around Anko's shoulders when the thump of explosions woke them both up. He pushed the covers aside and made to sit up but fell back clutching his throat as he slowly choked to death from a crushed larynx.

Anko slid out of bed and without so much as a glance back as her lover choking to death under the covers, she summoned her favorite snake and had it cough out the scroll she'd had it swallow earlier. With calm and poise, she unsealed the scroll and set about adorning her armor and weapons. Her own explosive seals were pasted on all the major thoroughfares to the port and ready to blow at a moment's notice, which she did just before she stepped into the night to join her compatriots at the base.

Instantly, a hundred explosions rocked the town, as bridges blew, and houses and shops alongside all major streets went up in smoke and flames.

War that Tea had tried to help visit on Fire had come home with a vengeance.

xxxxx

Author's notes:

Long break between chapters. Plenty of reasons for that, but real life and laziness take almost all the blame.

Anyways, Konoha and Kabuto. Kabuto and Konoha. Also, cursed seal and Konoha. Sounds nice, doesn't it? LOL And Team 7 as S-rank killers. Now, we're getting somewhere. Finally. ROFL

Who wants me to off Kimmimaro in the next chapter?

Finally, happy birthday tomorrow to me!


	16. A Shot Heard Around the World

The Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 15: A Shot Heard Around the World

Disclaimer: Tax the rich and they hike the price of the goods we buy!

In the evening light, General Hino of Fire looked at the troops arrayed neatly before him. As Commander of Southern Theatre, he was charged with the conquest of Tea. Turning to Brigadier Sarutobi, he raised an eyebrow in askance.

"Terujiro's moving his forces to the side to let ours pass as we speak," the recently retired Hokage replied, "and my squads are in place. I should join my troops for the assault."

"You're joining them?" Hino asked.

Sarutobi nodded.

"I need to show them there's plenty of fight still left in these old bones. Only way to cement the loyalty of fighting men like these quickly."

General Hino nodded and turned to the other General by his side.

"And what of you, Toyoda?"

"My officers are going to be leading from the front. Unlike Hiruzen, I understand and accept I'm too old for rapid assaults and desperate fights. I'll stay back here, organize units and expedite movement. We're racing against time and the faster we get more men across before Shinichi reacts, the better the chances we'll succeed."

Hino thought about it for a moment and nodded approval.

"Very well, Gentlemen. I'll leave you to your jobs. 1st and 2nd Regiments should have started the attack along the center of the enemy line ten minutes back. Good luck and good hunting!"

xxxxx

The capital was restive. Gossip of the imminent war was pervasive and most of the hearsay was negative. There was a palpable atmosphere of fear and as the Root operatives eavesdropped on the various patrons at bars across the city, they knew the situation wasn't yet ripe for an "event," but was slowly getting there. Until then, they would wait patiently.

Today, as it had before, and as it will forever, Root would ensure that The Great Tree would emerge triumphant both on the field and off against its adversaries in the end.

xxxxx

Vice Admiral Muramachi looked dispassionately at the smoking ruins of hundreds of buildings on the northern end of the city and the crippled hulls of his fleet. The fools in the capital had yet to realize it, but the war was already as good as lost without the navy to run interference against Fire.

But, he could not help but think that Konoha had made a monumental error in judgment. The pattern of assault on the ships in the harbor told him one tale, but it was at odds with the burnt out shells on the outer limits. It was confusing to divine the enemy's motives, but if he ignored the arson in the city as an aberration, a clear picture emerged. And nothing else made sense.

xxxxx

"Listen, kids," the ANBU explained patiently, "Jiraiya-sama's got enough on his hands without having to worry about you brats."

Sasuke opened his mouth, but stayed whatever he was about to say at the glare the operator shot him.

"I'm not in the mood for arguments," the man added with a glare in the raven-haired genin's direction. "I gave you an order and expect you to obey them, rookie ANBU though you are. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Sir!" Team 7 replied in crescendo.

The ANBU nodded and took a seat next to them.

"That's good."

Pause.

"So you're Kakashi-san's brats, huh?" he asked.

Team 7 nodded.

"Yes, we are."

"Well, you don't look like much, but Kakashi-san wasn't a looker himself," the man said.

"You've served with sensei?" Naruto asked, curiously.

The ANBU nodded.

"With him, and under him."

"Really?"

"Got the scars and the tattoos to prove it, Brat," the man countered. Then, softening his tone, "I'm Tripod – don't ask how I got that name and if you value your life, you won't laugh."

"Honored to meet you, Tripod-san. I'm Haruno Sakura, and these are my teammates: Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto."

"This must be my lucky day," Tripod said with a grin. "I got to meet the fabled Team 7 face to face."

"Ha! Ha!" Naruto laughed sarcastically.

"I'm exaggerating, of course," the ANBU added with an even wider grin.

"What was sensei like back in those days?" Sakura asked.

"I heard he was an asshole back before he became jounin. They say he changed. Me? I didn't know him back then. What I do know is that he is the best damned tactician and the best commander I'd worked with during my fifteen years of service in ANBU. Why there was that one time…" Tripod trailed off.

"Tell us," Naruto urged, seeing that the man wasn't going to explain.

Tripod shrugged.

"I can't. You guys aren't cleared for that compartment. Anyways, he was an intense kind of man. And he's loyal like you wouldn't believe. Would charge the gates of hell to save a subordinate and was always worried about his men and the mission. There are some commanders who'll expend nin like so many ryo, but Kakashi-san wasn't like that. You had to complete the mission, of course, but you always knew that if you died, it wasn't because your CO decided you were expendable. ANBU are, mind you," he said, shooting them a pointed look, "but Kakashi-san was a craftsman and he didn't like wasting bodies. It's not efficient, you see.

"And then he quit ANBU. I'd heard over the years he'd mellowed out quite a bit."

"Kakashi-sensei, mellow?" Naruto said aloud, wonderingly.

"These days, at least, he is," Sasuke countered.

"The first few months of our training were intense," Sakura explained for Tripod's benefit.

The ANBU nodded.

"I know. Hell, everyone in Fire's Ninja Corps knows by now, probably. You guys are famous."

"Really?" Naruto asked eagerly. The attention whore in him was curious, damn it!

"Truth, Kid. What Kakashi-san put you through would have killed lesser people. Sure as hell would have killed me when I was your age. I'm sure you paid a heavy price with broken bones and contusions day after day, but no one in ANBU corps doubts the price wasn't worth it. I mean, you faced Oro-fucking-maru and lived. There ain't many that can claim that. And everyone in ANBU regrets not having been there for the Chuunin exam finals."

Team 7 grinned in elation.

And the grilling continued.

xxxxx

Jiraiya patted his _friend_ Yakushi Kabuto on the back to steady the boy, half a kilometer from Team 7 and Tripod. The sannin and the traitor-twice-over were hidden behind a crop of trees flanked by ANBU and assorted nin. Their position overlooked the entrance to the safe house where Oto remnants were holed up. The holdouts were the very ones whose loyalty to the late Orochimaru was weak and who could be turned, if Kabuto was to be believed, and thus, ripe for the turning.

"Relax, Kabuto, there's nothing to fear," the sannin said, fixing the spectacled medical genius with a look. Jiraiya was fully aware that Orochimaru's pet gofer might have lied about his friends – one reason why the boy was going in alone to convince them to come out and surrender. If he'd lied, or had somehow arranged an ambush – as farfetched as that idea was – this was the time to back out and beg for his life.

Kabuto chuckled lightheartedly. He thought he managed to mask his nervousness, but to a seasoned spy as Jiraiya, it was as plain as light of day. But the sannin didn't give away the fact he'd read his prey's discomfiture. Let the medic underestimate him at his own risk.

"In you go," he said. "How much time do you think you'll need?"

"Probably most of the day. They're going to be nervous. Konoha hasn't exactly been kind and gentle with their comrades these past few weeks."

Jiraiya shrugged. The Hokage's orders were to summarily behead captured Oto nin unless they surrendered without a fight. Those that did were arrested and interned in camps under observation. The plan was to track down their families, take them hostage and relocate the nearest of kin to Konoha to convince the nin to switch allegiance to Fire. But there had been precious few prisoners so far and the sannin thought he knew why. Orochimaru was reviled like nothing else in Konoha and ANBU hated him even more. Leaf shinobi were simply not accepting most offers of surrender.

"That can't be helped," he said cheerily. "If it helps, tell them I have enough men under my command to raze their little hole to the ground and grind everyone in it to dust."

Kabuto nodded and firming his resolve, approached the hideaway.

xxxxx

Kimimaro's condition had continued to deteriorate. Nothing Karin did helped. The other fugitives were grateful for her presence and over the course of the last couple of days, had slowly begun to look to her for leadership. Anyone who could control a maniac like Juugo was leader material, as far as they were concerned.

Karin, for her part, knew that it was only a matter of time before the bone wielder died. It wasn't just his disease that was killing him, but something else. If she didn't know better, she'd have thought that Kabuto had poisoned her patient.

But right now, Kimmimaro's impending demise was the last thing on her mind. She had far more immediate concerns. Like what Kabuto's chakra was doing in the neighborhood mixed with numerous others. Had he sold them all out – Karin knew Kabuto and his capacity for betrayal well – or had he reached an accommodation with Konoha to spare their lives? Before she could make up her mind and order an escape through the tunnel leaving behind only a sacrificial guard, Kabuto forced her hand by approaching the entrance himself.

Karin glared at the senior medic as the latter climbed down the slippery ladder.

"This ladder's a deathtrap," he quipped in a tone that screamed flippant to kunoichi.

"Are there Konoha nin outside, Kabuto?" she asked, ignoring his comment altogether.

"Why," he replied with a smile, his hands out in front where she could see them, "yes, of course. Jiraiya-sama was quite insistent on bringing help."

Whatever else Kabuto may have had in his mouth went unsaid as one of the bystanders shoved him against the wall. The marks of the curse seal began to spread across the aggressor's body.

"You traitor! I ought to kill you here and now!" the boy growled.

"Tenchi, stand down," Karin ordered him, as much to exert control over the situation as to calm Juugo. Tenchi was a good fighter, but he wasn't the brightest bird in the flock. And Juugo was all too willing to go on one of berserker rages, distressed as he was by Kimmimaro's condition. To Kabuto, she said, "Please explain."

Kabuto nodded. He was actually glad that Karin appeared to be in command of the cutthroats – he had hoped someone would be for otherwise odds were about even he'd get his throat slit for going to the trouble of saving the ingrates. It also helped that he had worked with her extensively before and knew her to be pragmatic in these things. A kindred soul, even.

"I convinced Jiraiya-sama to spare our lives. He's here to accept our surrender."

"And the others with him?" one of the others asked heatedly.

"Would you come here alone if you were in his place?" Kabuto shot back. Then, aloud, "Where's Kimmimaro? Has his condition improved in the last week?"

Hidden behind the wall of bodies in the back, Juugo relaxed at Kimmimaro's bedside. He'd been ready to kill Kabuto if the medic had betrayed them, but he was glad that was not the case. Kabuto wouldn't be trying to heal the ailing Kaguya if he were really a traitor.

"He's here in the back," the bloodline progenitor of the cursed seals spoke loud enough to be heard at the front, even as the others parted to make way for the medic.

"Kimmimaro's much worse," Karin added, guiding Kabuto to the Kaguya. Her eyes were strangely focused on the senior medic, a fact that did not escape her quarry, but slipped everyone else's notice.

The way Kabuto met Karin's gaze unflinchingly, she knew for sure he meant everything but good health and a long life for Kimmimaro. It did not even cross her mind to reveal the truth to the others, however, for she knew it was the right thing to do under these circumstances. One life quenched for many bequeathed.

Calm as a hermit contemplating the mysteries of the universe, Kabuto took the seat Juugo evacuated. As Karin watched from the side, the mild-mannered medic used his skills to do a number on Kimmimaro's lungs under the guise of a medical checkup. It was a good thing, she mused, that the Kaguya was unresponsive from the painkillers, or he would have given the game away under the excruciating pain.

So, at the end of the checkup, when Kabuto stood up, Karin knew that he'd stolen what little time Kimmimaro had left in the world. But she couldn't feel any pity for the Kaguya. Such was the world of shinobi and though the bone wielder was a friend, he would be the death of them all with his fanatical loyalty for Orochimaru if he lived.

"I think we can save him if we get him to Konoha fast," Kabuto announced. "The disease is too far gone and the only one who can possibly save him is Tsunade of the Sannin."

Juugo brightened considerably.

"You think so?" he asked.

Kabuto nodded.

"I'm afraid he's not much for this world if he stays here. The Senju is his only chance."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Juugo asked heatedly. "Let's start for Konoha already."

Several of the others looked askance at Karin. They did not trust Konoha to keep their word, but Juugo would make mincemeat of them if they objected.

However, Karin was now a part of Kabuto's conspiracy.

"If there's even the slightest chance we can save Kimmimaro, then we have to take it," she declared passionately.

A few shoulders slumped in the back and others heaved a sigh of relief at the passing of immediate danger. They would deal with Konoha later, but right now, Juugo was the most immediate, and by virtue of that immediacy, also the biggest threat.

"A word of caution, however," Kabuto spoke in warning. It wouldn't do to have Juugo think that Kimmimaro was saved and then have him die on the journey to Konoha. There was no telling what the crazy bastard would do if that happened, but if Leaf shinobi became the target of the opprobrium, the spectacled genius knew what Jiraiya would do to him as repayment. "Kimmimaro's too sick. He may succumb to the rigors of travel."

Juugo slumped visibly.

"We'll do everything to keep him safe and comfortable, Juugo," the medic nin continued, "but I don't want to get your hopes up until we reach Konoha."

Juugo nodded understanding.

After that, it was but the work of a few minutes to convince the others and just like that, Konoha's strength had expanded by several dozen.

xxxxx

It was late in the night and General Shinichi, commander of the forces defending Tea against Fire's imminent invasion was fast asleep when his aide woke him up. The General was instantly awake and he knew as soon as he read the message that Tea was lost. Unlike most of his compatriots, who'd thought Tea couldn't win at all, he'd felt that country had a slim chance of holding off Fire before Snow and Rock were cajoled to intervene in his nation's favor. But now… The scale of the disaster ruled out all any chance of fending off the invading army.

"3rd and 5th regiments of Fire have broken through the Southern flank," he bitterly read aloud an excerpt from the fateful message. Then to his aide, "Get me couriers. Are the Command staff awake?"

"I sent for both the couriers and the staff, Sir. They should be arriving at the Command tent now. I also sent for the cook to prepare tea for everyone, Sir."

Shinichi nodded.

"We better get there ourselves, hadn't we?"

Inside the Command tent, they found Shinichi's staff caught in a whirlwind of activity as officers asked for and got incomplete reports from their subordinates. A steady bunch walked in and out of the tent as the whole camp quickly came alive, and couriers hurried to the command tent and patiently awaited their summons.

Shinichi beckoned for the couriers after casting an experienced eye over the chaos inside the tent. He judged it as having the right tempo and sense of urgency.

"My compliments to Maj. Taira. He is to make haste with the Seventh and Fourteenth infantry battalions to the Southern flank and using Hill 34 as the anchor on the right flank, form a defensive line perpendicular to our main battle line. His orders are to hold firm until relieved and to defend the units on the front from flanking attacks.

The nearest courier nodded and hurried away. Shinichi watched after the boy leave with a heavy heart. In his heart of hearts, he already knew his move would fail. Fire would have sent their most mobile troops and their damned ninja through that breach. And he did not doubt more reinforcements were streaming into Tea even now, but he had his duty and honor and if he was to die, he would die like a man fighting to his last breath. '_Damn that traitor Kita Terujiro to a thousand lifetimes in the darkest pits of hell!_' he cursed mentally.

"My compliments to Lt. Col. Tachibana," Shinichi continued, his mind wandering back to the nigh impossible challenge at hand. "He is to take command of Eighth, Ninth and Thirteenth infantry battalions and First and Second cavalry battalions and counterattack the enemy. His orders are to plug the breach at all costs."

The next courier nodded and made to leave. But before he could get on his horse, an arrow appeared as if by magic buried halfway into his right temple.

And Shinichi knew that a shinobi was inside the camp proper. He just had a moment to curse the Gods aloud while someone else inside the tent raised the assassin cry before his aide exploded in a fiery cataclysm. The explosion blew the Command tent and everyone inside it sky high leaving few survivors.

Without shinobi to play counter-nin and defend high value targets, and with one entire flank wide open, Root had smuggled in assassin team right into the camp. After that, it had taken less than a minute to genjutsu Shino's aide when the Major bore the news of Terujiro's betrayal to the General. At this crucial moment, they'd detonated the unwilling suicide bomb in the nerve center of the entire front.

That night, as Tea units reeled and were hammered from attacks from front and the rear ever widening the breach, Root carried out seven other missions deep inside Tea, striking at supply bases. They also captured key communication stations along the front line, and sent confusing messages both to the frontline and the capital that put the whole front in disarray come morning.

xxxxx

"What's your name?" Karin asked the blonde teen after the camp was struck and the evening meal shared.

Naruto glared at her in return. He felt insulted that an enemy of Konoha dared speak to him.

"Don't glare at me," the redhead seethed, her temper getting the better of her.

Naruto's glare did not abate and Sasuke joined him.

"Naruto, Sasuke, shut up," Sakura barked, noticing the unfriendly looks the other prisoners shot her teammates. Sometimes, the boys were such idiots! There was only one reason that Jiraiya-sama and ANBU would go to so much trouble to smuggle Oto nin into Fire masquerading them as civilians, and she and the dumbasses had discussed the subject just the day before. Too bad their brains suffered from chronic testosterone poisoning.

Her words earned Sakura a glare from her teammates. That is, until she bopped them on the head.

"Idiots! They aren't the enemy anymore. Or did you forget the talk we had yesterday?"

Naruto had the sense to look ashamed. Sasuke continued to glare. The raven-haired genin was a stubborn son of a bitch when he chose to be.

"Don't mind them," Sakura told the redhead POW, "they don't mean any harm."

Karin looked doubtful.

"The blonde's Naruto, the ravenhead's Sasuke and I'm Sakura. We're genin."

Karin frowned dismissively, though she was curious. What were genin doing in the company of ANBU and a sannin?

As if sensing her thought, Naruto popped his shoulders.

"Let's spar, Pinky. Usual rules, 'Uke?"

Watching the spar, Karin learned grudging respect for Team 7 and Konoha. They had seen it before in the professionalism and efficiency of Leaf ANBU, but the skill the genin demonstrated stamped in their hearts the true might of the most powerful village in the land.

xxxxx

Jiraiya stared at Team 7 speculatively for the longest while.

"When did you figure it out?" he asked finally.

"It wasn't that hard when your _civilians_ have powerful chakra and we've been taking the utmost care to maintain secrecy about moving our prisoners," Naruto replied.

Jiraiya thought about it and nodded.

"Very well. You're part of this compartment now. You can't share information about our prisoners or even betray you possess knowledge about them to anyone else unless authorized by the Hokage, the Council, the ANBU commanders and I."

Team 7 nodded.

"Good. Dismissed."

xxxxx

The war was going badly for Tea. In one week, Konoha had crippled their navy at port and Fire followed that move by sinking the surviving remnants at sea. Fire's army had also advanced hundred miles into the country, encircling seven regiments in a pocket between the naval landings on the northern coast and the lightning fast pincer in the south. All efforts to relive the trapped units had been unsuccessful and after losing most of one of the two last combat ready regiments, abandoned in favor of defending the capital. That was two days back and official word of their surrender came yesterday evening. Rumors ran rampant as the capital's militia and whatever units could be scrapped together rushed about strengthening the defensive works, but the citizenry were close to panicking and an atmosphere of gloom and doom had seized the city. The steady stream of refugees running away from the frontline past the capital certainly did not help the undercurrent of terror.

The conditions were ripe for a riot among the civilians and Root operators smuggled into the city started it with a liberal dose of sabotage and arson. And as the granary went up in smoke as well as two watchtowers and several public buildings, plus the numerous peasants killed more or less at random in main thoroughfares, the city exploded in unrest.

xxxxx

When word finally reached the port about the riots in the capital, Vice Admiral Muromachi knew what to do. Konoha nin had done a number on his fleet and crippled it, but they had left behind the port infrastructure intact after they fired up large sections of the city. It would have served Leaf and Fire best to have their ninja hold it until they were relieved, but someone on their side must have screwed up and they hadn't. So, as his country crumbled around him, Muromachi was left staring at a golden opportunity to prick his enemies and to deny them the ability to field a significant naval arm for some years to come.

He knew that his orders would probably cost him his life when the Fire Daimyo learned about it, but if Hi no Kuni ever got its naval arm, Rock and Snow wouldn't be able to liberate it this side of eternity. So…

"Ensign, get me Captain Satsuma and Commander Momoyama. Fast."

The ensign saluted smartly and left without a word. He returned five minutes later with the captain and the commander.

"Gentlemen, please be seated," Muromachi said. "The war is lost. All that is left is for the politicos in the capital to surrender, which after two days of riots among the population, won't be long now. But that's not why you're here. I summoned you both to discuss plans for firing up the port infrastructure and for planning the insurrection to come afterwards. How should we go about it?"

Satsuma frowned in thought for a moment.

"We have plenty of timber in the warehouses, Sir," he said.

"Yes?"

"We could pile the timber on the locks and pumps of the graving dock, soak them with fuel and set them on fire. We could also do the same with the damaged ships and destroy their superstructure. There's no point in scuttling the ships in shallow water, but if we can damage them enough, it'd take them lots of time in the yard before they can set sail again," Momoyama elaborated.

It was clear that both officers had already discussed this at length, smart and aggressive as they were, which was exactly why the Admiral had called for them.

"Set parties to work on that right away. Also, see about firing up the fuel tanks as well. And dump the rations into the sea. Let the damned bastards bear the cost of feeding the civilians," Muromachi supplied.

Satsuma thought about it for a moment. They would simply have to ensure that the food supplies brought in by the Fire people were stolen or destroyed en route.

"Yes, Sir."

"Get on it. We'll disperse into the countryside once the work is done, leaving behind only a small guard."

xxxxx

The gates of Konoha bristled with ninja as Jiraiya's party and escort reached the walls of the village. While guards rushed about processing prisoners, Jiraiya approached Team 7 who were busy chatting with Tripod, their minder for the concluded journey.

"Well, that's it kids," he said. "Sorry we couldn't spend as much time together as I wanted. But it's straight to ANBU training for you and we'll meet again in six months."

Team 7 nodded.

"'Till we meet again! Work hard and enjoy ANBU life. The village needs you for the next war."

"We will be ready, Jiraiya-sensei."

"Yes, you will." Jiraiya smiled fondly. They were well-behaved kids, really, and Minato would have been proud of Naruto and his friends. He certainly could not wait to see what the future held in store for them.

xxxxx

Author's notes:

Well, this is no longer the shortest chapter, but yes, here begins the time skip. LOL Next chapter will be set three years in the future.

Now for a few clarifications: I've had comments saying that Team 7 haven't played a role in the story so far. I just want to make it clear that they're genin and TBLP is not a fairytale where rookies win wars. Team 7 will play a much more active role post-time skip, where they'll have the power, the experience and the authority to matter.

Also, I hope that the Tea invasion left you aching for more. I intentionally gave only the barest details and didn't delve too deeply into the action. Sorry. I know some of you wanted it, but it'd have meant pointless descriptions of battles that have no bearing on the bigger plot. Moreover, while Tea is the precipitant of the next war, its role in the story is limited. I've covered all aspects that are important to the plot. Tea can now serve as a testing ground weapons, doctrine and train soldiers for Konoha and Hi no Kuni, as well as serve another important function, but I'll delve on that in future chapters.

Please leave reviews.


	17. Powderkeg & Tinderbox

The Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 16: Powderkeg & Tinderbox

Disclaimer: Getting hitched!

Excerpts from National Intelligence Estimate on Fire country submitted to the Daimyo of Cloud:

"…In Tea, Fire's successful rebuilding effort of the country's infrastructure has brought renewed prosperity and has reduced popular support for the insurrection. Patriots of the disposed regime are finding it increasingly hard to operate within the land as support for the nationalist cause is fast disappearing among the population…"

"…The window of opportunity obtained by Muromachi's actions during the final days of Fire's conquest of Tea is now closed. Thanks to the strategies devised by Sarutobi Hiruzen, the retired Third Hokage of Konoha and commander of Root division of Fire's Ninja Corps, counter-infiltration operations have increased vastly in effectiveness to the extent that seven of the last eight insertion attempts by both Rock and Cloud have ended in failure. The port and the shipyard have now been open for two years and the blue water approaches to Tea are now heavily patrolled, starving the insurgents of essential supplies of the materials of war. In conclusion, the insurgency in Tea is no longer sustainable at the level of the first two years…"

"…Even though more than three years have passed since the disposal of the Yondaime Kazekage and in spite of the close friendship between the Godaime Kazekage and the Daimyo of Wind, Suna continues to remain a shadow of its former glory. Owing to a number of tragedies that have befallen Sand shinobi operating outside the walls of the hidden village over the course of the last year and the growing unpopularity and disillusionment with the government on three of the seven provinces in the country, the position of the Daimyo has worsened. Intelligence strongly suspects Leaf's hand in both instances, though incontrovertible evidence has so far eluded all investigating agencies. This state of affairs is regrettable as the Daimyo is unable to act decisively against Fire so long as he faces a divided population at home…"

"…Though it couldn't have been foreseen, the ascension of Wave as a major trading partner to Fire and a prominent export hub as well as the cozy relationship they share with Hi no Kuni is cause for concern. Wave has recently concluded an agreement with Fire to station one of the latter's regiments within their borders close to the port through which passes 10% of Cloud's external trade merchandise as of date. There is evidence of a Konoha black ops element operating within Wave's border with impunity, though both Fire and Wave have denied it. Furthermore, a total of twenty friendly port calls were made by Fire navy at Wave's capital in the last six months whereas Wave has refused our offer of army and naval elements to protect their boundaries. Wave has thus become a cause of concern and…"

"…Rumors of a jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi persist. There is now enough evidence to conclude that there is such a shinobi in Konoha's ranks, though the appearance and description of the nin vary. Moreover, the Godaime Hokage hasn't deigned to return the Ichibi to rightful owners in Suna. Since the One Tail is a carefully held secret in Hidden Leaf, there are concerns about whether it has been sealed into another to forge a new weapon. Such a state of affairs is unacceptable as..."

"…However, evidence points that Akatsuki (see report TSS193jd89 for details) are also unaware of the Ichibi's location. Since the cabal is markedly belligerent towards Konoha and has demonstrated their superior intelligence gathering abilities in overtures made to Cloud and Rock courts, it appears probable that the fate of the One Tail will remain unknown for sometime to come until Leaf acts. Interestingly, reports say that Akatsuki's failure in this regard has delayed the execution of the shadowy organization's plans. The question why the mercenaries would seek out the tailed beast is unanswered. Intelligence considers this a cause for concern as their plans may include designs on our own strategic weapons as well…"

"…In conclusion, with their newly assimilated territories and their enhanced military might, prosperity and political influence, and continuing lawlessness in Wind fostered by Fire's interference, Hi no Kuni is now the greatest threat to the status quo in the Elemental countries and the biggest threat to Cloud's sovereignty."

xxxxx

The tea was subpar today.

"This tea is shit," Naruto bemoaned, waving his cup in the air.

"What else can you expect in a rundown establishment as this one," Sasuke pointed out from across the table, gesturing with his sake saucer at the opulent surroundings.

Seeing as how the establishment was the most expensive in Konoha and catered mostly to the affluent, the majordomo had every reason to look offended. Too bad for him he was too cultured to throw Team 7 out on their asses right then and there.

"And you're a wanker," Naruto retorted loudly, "sitting there swilling your precious sake, ignoring your unfortunate friend who has been cursed to drink this vile cat piss."

"Well, fuck you. You're the one who wanted tea when Sakura and I were content with sake."

A gentleman and his lady friend in the center of the room hastily paid their bill and cleared the building. Sakura, seated at the third side facing the restaurant's aghast patrons, covered her head in shame. It was as if her teammates went out of the way to embarrass her in public.

"Bastard!" Naruto barked even more loudly. "Why I should gut you, then cut off your balls and use them to shut your trap right where you sit."

"And I should strangle you with your intestines and paint the walls red with your blood, you pussy," Sasuke replied in an equally loud and vehement voice.

Another patron left the building in a hurry. The exchange would definitely have continued further had not the majordomo approached the table.

"Yes, dear fellow?" Naruto asked, putting on cultured airs. After the performance of the last minute, no one was fooled.

"I'm going to have to ask you to vacate the premises, Sir," the man said.

Sasuke looked affronted.

"Well, the tea is shit anyways," he said pleasantly, rising to his feet.

"And the ambience sucks donkey's balls," Naruto added helpfully for the majordomo's benefit. "You might want to look into it, but seriously, what's a tea house without hookers?"

xxxxx

Two minutes later…

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" twin cries of pain resonated through the street as Sakura dragged her teammates by their ears.

"All I wanted was something nice and quiet for a change, and some decent eats," she griped, picking up her pace, "you two had to ruin it, didn't you?"

The objects of her ire did not answer her. The pain from their distended ears was simply unbearable.

"Well, c'mon then. We'll do things your way. But I swear, one of these days I'm going to make you wear skirts and sing soprano."

Naruto winced. Ami, his girlfriend in Wave, would kill him if she lost her favorite plaything. However, he was glad that Sasuke, who'd normally make fun of him at this point, was otherwise engaged in sharing his torment. It was easy for the raven-haired Uchiha, seeing as how he preferred the government run whoring houses for rest and relaxation whenever he wanted, which wasn't often.

Fortunately, ten minutes of excruciating agony later, they reached the common bath. Sure enough, Jiraiya, their teacher, was busy peeping.

"Is the haul any good, you old fart?" Naruto shouted, intentionally. "Sakura-chan wants to know if there's any delectable piece of naked ass in there. If there is, she wants to hit it tonight."

And hit it, Sakura did. Naruto's head, that is.

Naruto shook his head to banish the birdies as Jiraiya cursed his students for disturbing the pursuit of his true art and calling.

"Remind me to kick your ungrateful ass, Brats," he complained as he pulled his students away from the compromised peeping hole. Not one day in Konoha and he'd have to search for another one, no thanks to his disciples.

"Where are we going, Sensei?" Naruto asked once he recovered.

"To meet the Godaime."

"Yeah, like you didn't know already," Sasuke said, contributing his two cents.

"You know what, Sasuke? You diddle goats."

"Well, you fuck ducks in your spare time."

"And you suck mastodon cock."

"Quit it, you two!" Jiraiya warned as they approached the Hokage tower.

xxxxx

The ANBU guard gave Jiraiya a brief bow and swung the door open. Team 7 had dressed their ranks as soon as they were under the roof of the hallowed institution. They now entered the room in file, trailing Jiraiya.

"Haruno, Uzumaki and Uchiha reporting for duty from training mission as ordered, Sir!" Sakura, who stood front and center, snapped.

Kakashi put down his quill and cracked a smile behind his mask as he looked Team 7 up and down. His kids were grown up and become adults. His eyes met Jiraiya's and the old legend flashed a wry grin back.

"Sit down," he told them.

The foursome made themselves comfortable and the Hokage's secretary served them black tea without sugar. That was the way Kakashi preferred his tea and he made it a point to serve everyone except visiting dignitaries the concoction.

"Less than a day in Konoha after a three month away tour in Tea and already I have a complaint lodged against your team, Haruno," Kakashi said after the chuunin was done.

Jiraiya relaxed. Yeah, he'd catch some flak about the lack of discipline on his students later, but it wasn't what he'd feared. No one had reported on his peeping. Not that they ever did, mind, but there was always a first time for everything and he so did not want there for that meeting. Why, his reputation with the ladies would be in tatters if the information got out!

"Er," Sakura hesitated, "request the Hokage to be more specific and state the incident in the complaint."

Naruto snickered in the background. As did Sasuke. Today had been a fun day for them both. Three months away in that hellhole Tea, they deserved a little chance to unwind on the return. They'd apologize to the civvies later, but the pranks were just too good to pass up at that time.

Kakashi glared at his truant little darlings.

"Promoted ten times in the last three years between the three of you and demoted seven times back," he said. "Unfortunately, I can't even throw you in the brig this time around. There's an S-rank mission and it might be right up your alley. So, you're it."

The part about throwing them in the brig was a lie. At least this time. The offended parties were only civilians, after all. Fairly high ranking ones, but civilians, nonetheless. But the brats had to kept on a tight leash during R or things quickly spiraled out of control. Still, Kakashi loved playing these games with his children. Too bad they didn't have enough time in their hands this time to figure out if he was bluffing or not and do something about it.

xxxxx

The smoldering corpses of the minions of that vulture Danzo strewn across the ground before him was pure heaven. The masked Sand nin pushed at one of them with his leg and the target's appendage came ripping apart. The ANBU chuckled at the sight. Just how he preferred his Leaf brethren. Well cooked and burnt to a crisp!

The Sand shinobi turned to his compatriots and signaled retreat. Vultures were circling overhead already – minutes after the massacre – and Danzo's own would come to investigate in force. It was every Suna-nin's most cherished dream to mix it up with those Hidden Leaf bastards and teach them a lesson, but today was not the day. Even though that day drew nigh, Wind and Sand stood to benefit a great deal more if their enemies in Fire and Leaf remained unaware of the strong allies and weapons in their possession till the very end.

xxxxx

"We think that the disappearances are part of a covert operation to weaken Fire's foothold in Wind. From the reports that our agent in Danzo's camp sent us, as well as Danzo's own official reports, we think that there's a possibility that one or more S-rank ninja are lending assistance to Suna."

"Missing nin?" Naruto asked. He'd read the intelligence reports. There were numerous A-rank nin in Suna's ranks, but none were S-rank. Danzo had seen to that. Say what you will about the old war hawk, but he was good at brainwashing and training fanatics for suicidal missions.

"Or ninja on loan from one of the other villages," Kakashi amended.

"So we go in and kill them?"

"Not precisely. Before you ask, I'll get to that part in a little while.

"As you know, Wind has also been making noises about the depredations of its citizens by Danzo's men. They stationed a regiment of samurai close to Danzo's camp about a year back and have been reinforcing the same periodically. There are now two regiments in the area and another one within a day's march. Plus the assorted shinobi loitering around in the area on any given day. Without the Suna-nin, the regiments aren't really a threat except to the odd unlucky ninja. With them, Danzo will be crushed if Wind moves."

"And our mission is to ensure that doesn't happen?" Sasuke asked.

Kakashi shook his head in the negative. No, he did not want the crippled asshole assassinated.

"While it is true that Danzo dead does not serve Fire's interests, neither does Danzo alive and powerful. Our reports are very clear on this. He is still plotting a coup to overthrow me. A shortsighted idiot if there ever was one as Sand was ripe for his taking all along. But that's neither nor there. And no, I don't want you to assassinate the old coot," he clarified, catching the look on Sasuke's face.

"What is the mission then, Sensei?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi smiled.

"To protect Fire's interests, what else? You will report to Danzo in Wind. Ostensibly, you will work under him, carrying out his orders. He will instruct you to track whoever's taking out his units and neutralize them. This is part of your real mission as well. Only you will not carry out the execution with undue haste. You will wait until Danzo is sufficiently weakened before you strike against them. On the side, you will weaken Suna by hunting any patrols that stray outside their walls. This will force Sand to recall its men attached to the regiments besieging Danzo, allowing him to operate freely once again."

"We keep on pricking Wind until they lose patience and opt to use a hammer to deal with the thorn in their side, at which time, we'll claim injustice and send our forces to enforce the law," Sakura stated.

"What Fire and Konoha wanted is Wind as an ally in the coming war. But since that's not possible, we're willing to settle for neutrality. Even if that neutrality is forced on them by a sword at their neck, which is why Danzo is so useful where he is."

The three Root members nodded. Kakashi pushed forward a scroll.

"A list of assets in Wind that you may find useful. Memorize and burn."

Sakura pocked the scroll silently.

"Finally, I'll say it again. Whatever you do, don't kill the old coot."

xxxxx

When Kiba walked into the restaurant to rendezvous with his team, a rare sight met him. The prodigal Team 7 were having a quite conversation with his teammates and eating lunch. Kiba's eloquence with the finer points of the spoken language came into play at that point and he waxed poetic.

"Well, tattoo my butt and bugger my puckered ass if it isn't Naruto! How are you doing, buddy? And you too, Sasuke, Sakura."

"I see you're as foul-mouthed as ever, Friend Kiba. Join us as we pay homage to the fine victuals that yon chef has kindly prepared for our luncheon," quoth Naruto.

Kiba starred goggle-eyed. When he recovered, he pointed an accusing finger at Sasuke.

"Dude, when did he take you to the gay-side?"

"Right about the time you started raping alley cats," Sasuke retorted.

Sakura guffawed. This was simply too good a chance to pass up.

"Don't tell me you two have been doing the horizontal mambo behind my back, Naruto."

Naruto glared at his pink-haired teammate.

Kiba laughed and grabbed a seat.

"And drop that shallow, cultured act, you Bastard," he intoned. "An idiot could see through it."

"Fuck you, too, Kiba."

Kiba snorted.

"As I was saying," Shino interrupted, "we haven't seen you guys in over a year since you completed since we last met in Wave. Long mission?"

"Kind of. We were stationed in Tea." It wasn't precisely true, as Team 7 had done performed other operations elsewhere, but for the purposes of this conversation, Naruto thought it would do.

"In fact, we stepped into Konoha only this morning," Sakura added.

Kiba nodded.

"Them ANBU captains are working you like crazy, huh?"

Sakura smiled.

"Yes, as a matter of fact. And throw in all the training that Jiraiya-sensei's been giving us and we have little time on our hands."

"Well, we're glad we're just regular nin, aren't we, Hinata?" the Inuzuka asked. To Team 7, before the Hyuuga could reply, "We're on R for the nest two weeks and then back to training before deployment again."

Sakura's smile grew bigger. Kiba knew from prior experience that he did not like the look on her face at all. She'd smiled that same smile before she kicked him in the balls two years back.

"We know."

"Oh?" Shino asked with a quirked eyebrow. His _bug senses_ were spiking and he feared bad things were about to happen to his team's well-earned R&R.

"Yeah, we're heading out for a mission today and turns out we need trackers. We checked with HQ and guess what we learned? And guess who just volunteered to be our trackers?"

"Oh man!" Kiba moaned. He had dates and plans for those dates.

"Ano," Hinata interrupted in that shy voice of hers, "where're we going?"

"Kaze no Kuni."

Team 8 nodded. They were curious but knew better than to pry into ANBU operations. They would track whoever needed to be tracked and lend whatever other assistance they could to the mission. And then, after the mission ended, they'd keep their mouths shut and forget all about it.

"North Gate at 1500. Pack rations for three days."

xxxxx

The Suna ANBU walked into the clearing. He was alone.

"White on black, darker than dark," he said, speaking the agreed upon code from the last meeting.

"Might is right," retorted his Iwa counterpart.

"The Kazekage expresses his gratitude for the loan."

"The Tsuchikage will be pleased to hear that."

The Suna ANBU nodded.

"Our strategy to keep Danzo confined is working. We expect success in another month."

"That is good."

"Code for next meeting?"

"You choose."

"My end: Orange. Yours: Night. Rendezvous, third on the list."

The Iwa ANBU nodded and departed as per prior agreement. He or whoever else was designated to attend the meeting would be there for the rendezvous.

The Suna ANBU remained at his position for a couple of minutes before he too left. Soon, very soon, Wind and their allies would move, and Konoha and Hi no Kuni would get their just desserts.

xxxxx

She rose up and stretched catlike. It was twilight and she signaled her men to break camp. Then she grabbed a bite of the ration bar, and the roasted snake and rat. The snake wasn't bad as snakes roasted on the field went, but the rat was excellent. There was something about the rats in Kaze no Kuni that made them delectable snacks. This was good because she loved rats. Briefly, she wondered about capturing a couple at the end of the mission and taking them home to breed. That way, she could have more of these wonderful morsels whenever she wanted.

"You want another snake?" one of her companions asked.

"No," she replied. "I'll have another rat now and then a Konoha rat later. I have an urge to try one of those today."

The man laughed.

"Don't we all," he said, throwing her a canteen.

"Watered down sake?" she asked.

He nodded.

"Good. Let's hope that tonight we catch something because the cat is just raring to play again."

xxxxx

"So, what's going on, Naruto?" Kiba asked once the others had turned in for the night. They were still within Fire and some teams would have foregone the night watch or had only one, but both teams were paranoid enough that there were two. As for the choice for the watch, Kiba and Naruto were good buddies as were Shino and Sasuke. Sakura and Hinata got along well enough, and Sakura was 'allergic' to Kiba. Also, everyone had agreed that putting two doujutsu users on the same watch wasn't prudent.

Naruto, who was seated with his back to Kiba, formed a bunch of kage bunshin and sent them out.

"We're not going to assassinate Danzo, if that's what you're wondering."

"I didn't think so. You wouldn't need my team if it were straight out assassination."

"You would be surprised," Naruto muttered. "But getting back on track, there are forces at work in Wind right now that are disturbing the status quo established after Suna's humiliation. We're going there as troubleshooters to reestablish balance."

"Reestablish balance," Kiba repeated. One could hear the smirk in his voice as he spoke. "I assume then that heads are going to roll."

"And it's going to rain blood," Naruto appended. "Which is where you come in."

"I can live with that. So long as you leave me and my teammates some."

"There'll be plenty to go around," Naruto replied.

"So what's happening in your life? As Shino said, been sometime since we saw you. I'd have given you up for dead if it weren't for the fact that we heard regular hearsay about your numerous and varied escapades at whorehouses, clubs and such. Especially the whorehouses."

"That's good to hear," Naruto replied. "It's hard work being a legend in the making, and it gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling that all that effort is paying off when my fans acknowledge me."

Kiba chuckled.

"So I guess you don't have a girlfriend."

"You guessed wrong."

"Fat, ugly chick with moustache?" Kiba asked.

Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Why are we talking about your mom and sis?" he asked innocently. "I thought we were talking about my girlfriend."

"I'm gonna kill you first thing tomorrow morning, you bastard," Kiba gritted back.

Naruto chuckled.

"You're welcome to try. Anyways, her name's Ami. You'd like her."

"Dude, you have a girlfriend and you screw around? How are you still alive?"

"Because she loves me. She understands the life we lead and the stresses we face everyday doing our job."

"Really? I have to meet this angel."

Naruto shrugged. With war on the horizon and with the kind of life he and his teammates lead, chances were he'd end up dead on some obscure battlefield, without keeping his word to Kiba if he gave it.

"We'll see how things turn out. In the meanwhile, we have to come up with a way to prank Sasuke and Shino. Any ideas?"

xxxxx

"I hate this fucking country," the psychopath said to his partner.

"You hate everything. So shut up."

"You're an asshole." Then, struck by a thought, "I need to kill something."

"That's what we're here for, isn't it?" the mercenary-at-heart said.

"I want dibs on the next one, you hear me? I don't want you to interfere."

The mercenary shrugged.

"Not like I care."

"That's because you're a shit-eating, atheist asshole who doesn't respect blood."

The mercenary did not reply.

"I'm talking to you, Fucker."

"And I'm ignoring you."

"You prick!"

The mercenary stopped and turned.

"You continue to annoy me."

"You…" A massive killer intent directed at him stopped the psychopath in his tracks. Most civilians and some shinobi would have dropped dead at its power, but he groaned in ecstasy – it was difficult to tell if it was religious fervor or sexual pleasure – and an insane smile blossomed on his face.

For his part, the mercenary stood stock-still facing his partner as the latter's perversions took their course. His eyes, however, glinted at a murderous temper held barely in check and promised a violent, bloody end to the object of his ire.

A minute later, the psychopath finally shook himself out of his ardor and cracked his head.

"Now, that was pleasant. Could we do that again?" he asked.

Fortunately for his sake, the mercenary's anger had abated some. He snorted in disgust and turned to face towards the road.

"We have a job to do and that's to kill Konoha ninja. We will do it expeditiously or I will dice you into little pieces and serve the slop to pigs. Are we clear?"

If the psychopath felt threatened, he showed no sign of it. Instead, he spit on a bush on the side of the road, adjusted the weapon at his back and started walking. His partner glared at his retreating back for a few seconds and then followed him.

The pig slop was looking more attractive all the time. Maybe he should do it after this mission. As an experiment.

xxxxx

Author's notes:

Finally, I'm back! LOL Thanks to all those folks who reviewed and who didn't get a reply from me. I'm sorry I couldn't write you a personal reply.

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. As you've guessed, various forces are moving in Wind and when they collide, there're going to be fireworks. Hopefully, they'll be spectacular. ^_^ The collision, of course, will have far-reaching consequences, but that's for future chapters.

Anyways, that's a little more Naruto than usual in this chapter. Hope you all liked him. Oh, if you've read this far, please leave reviews!


	18. Mistakes & Backstabbings!

The Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 17: Mistakes & Backstabbings!

Disclaimer: Sage Naruto!

It was high noon and the heat was stifling. Team 7 and 8 waited patiently under the merciless sun as the samurai at the head of their line took their sweet time processing travel requests.

Half an hour later, with Kiba's and Naruto's patience at an end, they were finally only a couple of bodies from getting their visas stamped.

"Damn paperwork Nazis," Naruto groused, kicking a pebble hard.

Sakura shrugged. It was the price of doing business. They were entering Wind as an official Konoha investigation team and had to go through the forms, which in this case meant standing in line for the border stamps.

Naruto snorted. He understood the need, but that did not have to mean he had to agree with it. He turned to Kiba to say something but a commotion at the head of one of the other lines grabbed his attention.

"What's going on?" he asked Sakura with a nudge and a nod in the direction of the turmoil.

Sakura shrugged again, though her eyes were focused intently on the man arguing with the Suna nin behind the desk. She was particularly interested since the man wore a badge of the courier corps on his right shoulder. The two looked like they might come to blows – which the messenger would have lost rather badly – but after a tense few seconds, the courier threw the cap of his trade on the floor and stomped out with his diplomatic case in hand.

Sakura finger-tapped Naruto on the shoulder and gestured in the courier's direction. She would hold his place for him while he struck a conversation with the man and learned what happened. Messengers were not denied entry even when two countries were at war and yet, Wind had seen fit to turn this one away. The incident was not relevant to their mission in any way, but it kindled her curiosity and she knew so would her superiors at ANBU HQ.

Naruto shook his head and walked after the fast departing messenger. Maybe he could grab a bite or two while he was interrogating the man. And if he couldn't make it back before they passed customs, he would linkup with his team later that night when they struck camp.

The messenger roamed around the small market on the Fire side of the border for a while before he entered a roadside eatery. Naruto entered the small, family run restaurant and immediately spotted the courier seated at the counter. The place was practically empty and deciding that the best approach was the direct approach, the blonde adjusted his Konoha issued forehead protector and walked up to the man.

"Is this seat taken?" he asked.

The courier turned sideways, and looked the teen up and down with a deep frown on his face.

"It's not," he said, turning back.

Naruto sat down and ordered lunch.

"Having a bad day? I'm Shigemi Hishinuma," he introduced himself, using one of his cover identities as a Konoha Jounin. ANBU and Root operators on foreign soil used covers even when not on mission. The people who mattered knew who they were and they did not care to let the rest know.

Silence.

"I reason why I'm asking is because I saw what happened back there at the border crossing."

The courier's back stiffened and he turned to face Naruto.

"Who's asking?"

Naruto gestured at his headband.

"I have nothing to say to you," the man replied. "If I have anything, I'll say it to your superiors in Konoha or better yet, to the Daimyo's representatives."

So, there really was a problem. Naruto understood that the man had every right to distrust a stranger, but he needed the information. The success of the mission hinged on Suna and Wind's disposition towards Konoha and Fire and his team's ability to make them see reason. Glancing sideways at his companion, the blonde thought he knew how to get the man to open up. Jiraiya had given Team 7 a most thorough education and one of the subjects had been on handling people the right way so as to extract useful information from them.

"If you don't have to, you don't have to," Naruto replied and slid a couple of ryuu over.

The courier gazed at the currency proffered for a couple of seconds and turned away in apparent disgust.

"I'm not to be bought," the man said in a clipped voice.

"Of course." Nevertheless, the Root operator slipped another gold coin across with a clink. This was an age-old game and the Toad Sannin had taught his students how to play it well.

The courier still hesitated.

Naruto slipped another halfway across.

"I can't break my professional code of ethics," the man muttered.

Naruto moved the coin three-fourths of the way.

"No one's asking you to. But you can gripe about your day to the owner."

The man thought about it and reached for his gold. Naruto smiled and took his finger off the last piece. When the owner bought their steaming lunch, his newfound friend groused loudly in great and intricate detail as the proprietor listened patiently.

xxxxx

Clearing customs had meant another hour spent standing on the queue and by the time Naruto got his papers stamped and reached camp, the sun had set. Also, the food was cold and everyone was ready to turn in for the night. As there was still a full day's march ahead of them and his discovery did not have any immediate implications for the mission, he ate the food and went to sleep.

The next morning, during breakfast, he told the others what he'd learned.

"That does not bode well for relations between Wind and Fire," Shino said when the blonde was done.

Naruto shrugged.

"It wasn't as if things weren't already heading up shit-creek."

"We knew that things were a little heated up on the Fire-Wind border, but why deny entry to a courier carrying a diplomatic case?" Kiba asked.

"Probably because he was carrying a diplomatic case," Sakura replied.

"They are trying to provoke an incident," Shino stated.

Sakura got a thoughtful on her face.

"Yes… unless he wasn't carrying the proper papers. Did you verify that, Naruto?"

Naruto grimaced as he chomped down on terrible tasting ration bar.

"Yep," he replied with a half-full mouth.

"We'll have to tentatively conclude that Wind is trying to provoke an incident."

"Stupid fuckers," Sasuke added helpfully.

"So we'll file a diplomatic protest and that'll make them look bad. What'll gain from that?" Kiba asked.

"Wh-what if they claimed that the courier did not have the proper papers and accused us of unfriendly acts?" Hinata asked.

"But that wasn't what happened."

"None of the other countries like Konoha or Fire these days because of our power. Truth will not matter here, I suspect. They will accuse us of belligerent actions even though we're faultless," Sasuke replied. He did not bother explaining more. His team knew what that meant.

"You imply that Kaze no Kuni is colluding with foreign powers, Sasuke," Shino observed shooting the raven-haired chuunin a significant glance. It was obvious that Team 7 had access to intel that his own teammates did not have. What sort of trouble were they walking into?

"Maybe. Danzo's only a day away and my guess is we'll know for sure when we get there."

xxxxx

Danzo's camp had the feeling of a besieged fortress. Men naked at the waist were busy digging a second moat wider and deeper than the first and the air rang with grunts at the backbreaking labor involved. Not surprisingly, given their predicament, the laborers were Konoha nin. As he passed through the gate, Naruto wondered how Danzo was managing security when a third of his men would be too tired at end of day and of no use.

A few shinobi stood guard on the wooden ramparts and Naruto had no doubt there were others that were on standby in the barracks. But Team 8 had not sensed or seen any Konoha nin more than two miles out where the Wind and Suna contingents had set up camp. That did not bode well for the morale of Danzo's men and it deprived the old General of the intel he needed to predict enemy movements.

Naruto glanced at his teammates and they nodded.

"The camp looks forlorn," Naruto spoke to their escort.

The Kunoichi nodded. Gone was the swagger and arrogance with which Danzo's troops had greeted Konoha inspectors in the past, Naruto noted remembering past intel reports. Now, they looked very grateful to see him and the others. If that wasn't an indicator that Danzo's dick was caught in the blocks, he didn't know what was.

"Yeah, we lost three more patrols in the last week. Two in a single night."

"The patrols were operating close to each other?" Sakura asked.

Their guide shook her head.

Naruto looked at his friends. Either there'd been two teams operating all along or Suna's hunters were confident enough to split their forces while going after Danzo's men. The day just kept getting better and better.

"What's Danzo's done about it?" Sasuke asked.

"That's Danzo-sama to you," the Kunoichi snapped irritably.

Sasuke grunted. He supposed he should show respect to the old cripple. For the present, at least.

"What's Danzo-sama done about it?" he rephrased himself.

"Pretty little. We've lost a hundred men in the last month. Whoever's out there is very powerful and we can't send enough men out because of those two damned regiments and those Suna-nin bastards. The men are near mutiny."

"I suppose that makes sense," Sasuke said doubtfully. _What had happened to Danzo's supremely well-trained force of killers_, he wondered. This was not the force reported as fearsome in the intel reports back home. Maybe Danzo had not brainwashed as many people as the Hokage's office had feared. If he'd expended most of them in suicidal assassination missions against Suna's elite, it explained the reality they'd discovered in his camp.

Their guide took one last turn and led them to a large but utilitarian tent.

"Danzo-sama's meeting a Wind diplomat," one of Danzo's aides said nodding to the Kunoichi. The man was dressed in plain shinobi garbs with no indication of his rank. "He instructed me to send you in as soon as you entered the camp. Wait inside and do not disturb until he's finished with the diplomat."

Teams 7 and 8 nodded and entered.

xxxxx

The Kaze no Kuni diplomat was a forceful man, who was secure in the belief that his person was inviolate and that he had everything going for him. He conducted himself aggressively and even though he was in the middle of Danzo's camp surrounded by the latter's killers, he spoke down to the crippled ex-nin. Listening to his speech from one corner of the room, Naruto wondered if the man was a brave idiot or just another run-of-the-mill nincompoop that wore a bureaucrat's uniform.

"We do not have control over what happens to you and your men," the official said in response to Danzo's complaint about his murdered men. He was sticking by the official Wind line on the subject. "If your men can go raping and looting, then they most certainly can live with the retaliations our civilians visit upon them."

"Civilians don't butcher men like mine were," Danzo retorted. It galled him to confess the gory nature of the deaths inflicted on his underlings, but with Kakashi's spies around, he had to look as if he was trying to get his point across in a reasonable manner.

"Obviously," the diplomat pushed ahead, overriding the old warhawk's protest, "you can neither control nor protect your own men, which says things about you and your village. No, Wind country has had enough of your depredations on our poor but brave citizens. You would do well to remember that you are a guest in our land."

"We have evidence that the murders were committed by trained shinobi," Danzo reiterated.

"So you say. Am I supposed to believe you when Konohagakure and Hi no Kuni have so much to gain from your accusations? No, Kaze no Kuni will not abide it. However, in the interests of fairness and to prove our innocence to the world, we are willing to subject ourselves to an investigation conducted by a neutral third party…"

Danzo's eyes narrowed at the slip and the diplomat, realizing his error in judgment, clamped down. He knew he'd unwittingly confirmed Danzo's suspicions. Wind a secret ally against Fire and as a result, grown a backbone.

"That's how it is then," the old cripple said with an indulging smile. The fool of a diplomat could not know how big a favor he'd done Danzo's cause with that slip. Now that the idiot had blurted out the truth before Kakashi's spies, the Godaime would be left with no choice but to send reinforcements. As much as the Hokage feared the former Root supremo becoming too strong, he needed Suna and Wind weakened, and Danzo was the only one who could do it. "I'll of course pass on your suggestion to Godaime-sama. We will wait for his decision."

The diplomat nodded silently. He could not hide his regret about his indiscretion, but Danzo had no doubt the man would recover his balance in moments and surge back into the attack again.

"Now," the veteran shinobi said, intent on provoking the man further, "that we've set aside the issue of the dead patriots, I would move on to the issue of the positioning of the 5th and 11th regiments so close to my base…"

"Absolutely not," Wind's representative said in a tone of voice that left no room for doubt or argument. "They're here to protect the civilian populace. They remain where they are."

From his vantage point behind the diplomat and beside his teammates, Sasuke stopped picking his teeth for a moment. He shot a little grin at the man's back and chuckled his appreciation for saying that lie with a straight face. Wind's official stance might have held some weight if their troops were positioned anywhere near population centers. But seeing as the units straddled the only paved road to Fire in that part of Wind as well as the sole watering hole large enough to support a large party of men for thirty miles and were so far removed from civilization that they needed dedicated mule trains to supply their comestibles thrice a week, it was not.

The Uchiha's actions drew the attention of his teammates, who glared at him. In reaction, with nothing more than another shake of the head, he went back to concentrating on his toothpick.

While Sasuke was interacting with his teammates thus, Danzo took the Wind envoy's argument in stride. It wasn't as if he'd expected the other to make concessions or even compromises. The diplomat did not know it, but the sole purpose of this conversation was for the benefit of Kakashi's spies, after all. He wanted them to impress the Godaime about Wind's intolerable conduct in their reports and the necessity of sending reinforcements quickly to regain control on the ground.

"Perhaps you can have the shinobi complement reduced. I'm afraid there might be run-ins with my men when they go out foraging…" Translation: If you don't move your men, I'll have mine kill them and claim it was an unfortunate misunderstanding.

"Wind expects Konoha shinobi within its borders to exercise due restraints. Suna obviously cannot be blamed if anything untoward happens." Translation: If you attack Suna-nin and claim it was an accident, we'll take steps to ensure that your men have more accidents befall them in return.

The meeting continued for a while longer with both men issuing vague threats. The Wind official threw a lot of outright insults and insinuations at Danzo, who ignored them utterly and continued to bait the man. Finally, the two exchanged insincere toasts for friendship, peace and prosperity, and the diplomat left. Danzo waited until the eye was out of sight before turning his attention to Teams 7 and 8.

"Jounin Aburame Shino, and Chuunins Haruno Sakura, Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto reporting for duty, Sir," Sakura announced as she and the others snapped to attention.

Danzo cast an appraising eye over the six.

"Kakashi's brats and Kurenai's darlings," he muttered thoughtfully, massaging his chin with his ever-present cane resting against his leg. "The Godaime had finally seen fit to send me some decent help, I see. You got your billeting done?"

"No, Sir! We came to report as soon as we walked into camp, Sir," Sakura replied.

Danzo nodded.

"You want a briefing immediately or do you want to see to your billeting?"

"The briefing first, Sir!"

Danzo seized his came and walked to his desk. His aide slipped out on some task as he did.

"The situation is simple enough," he said once he slipped into his seat. "The men I send out on patrols into the countryside are butchered like animals. I'm down forty-seven KIA and another thirty-four MIA in the last month. I've lost thirty in the last week. My surviving three hundred are close to mutiny. It's a wonder they haven't done so already. Any other unit would have under these circumstances.

"As to the tactical picture, I'm penned in by three Wind regiments as well as an estimated two hundred and fifty Suna-nin. You would have seen two of those regiments on the way here. The third blocks the highway to the capital. There may be more shinobi in the countryside, but that's pure guesswork on my part. In essence, I'm trapped."

Sakura nodded.

"Can you tell us about the attacks, Sir?"

"All except one were surgically executed ambushes by skilled ninjutsu users. The perpetrators are between ten and twenty in number. There have been more attacks in the east and generally less time between attacks, leading me to suspect they're encamped somewhere in that neighborhood. Of course, I could be wrong."

"And the exception, Sir?"

"That was a bloody massacre. There was nothing more than pieces of flesh strewn around of that patrol when we found it two days back. Unfortunately, I couldn't contain the news and it spread throughout the camp, which is one reason aside from being cooped up in the camp why the men are so upset."

"You suspect it's a different team that did this?"

"Oh, there's no doubt. The attack happened in the west on the same night as another in the east."

"Couldn't they have split up their forces and chosen a new modus operandi as part of their strategy?"

Danzo shrugged.

"Possible, I suppose. But unlikely. My men aren't weaklings and I'd wager it'd take more than your ordinary run of ninja to bring any of them down."

Sakura nodded.

"I hope you caught the windbag's slip back there?" Danzo asked.

"Yes, Sir. We're probably dealing with foreign shinobi and not nukenin."

"It's critical you find out who's helping Kaze no Kuni and Sunagakure."

"Yes, Sir."

"You need anything?"

"Yes, Sir. I would like the autopsy reports of the dead men as well as your authorization to cut open some of them again."

"Granted."

"We will also need a guide, Sir. Preferably someone who knows the area and is knowledgeable about the massacres."

Danzo nodded absently. It wasn't as if he was going to let them roam around his territory without someone to watch over them, anyways.

"We will also need the latest intelligence reports on Wind and Suna troop movements, Sir."

"Done. Anything else?"

Sakura thought about it.

"No, Sir. Nothing that strikes me at present anyways," she said, turning a questioning glance at her teammates. When they did not say anything, she turned to Danzo and continued, "If that is all, Sir?"

xxxxx

"We're dealing with a Jinchuuriki, Guys," Sakura said as soon as she walked into their tent.

Naruto and the others stared at her. Sakura me their exasperated stares and finally noticed the stranger in their midst. She'd been so tired because of the autopsies and had been so preoccupied with thoughts of the Jinchuuriki that she'd made a cardinal mistake. The man stood up to greet her.

"Sakura, this here's our liaison, Ishimatsu Shintani," Naruto introduced the stranger. "Say hello to Sakura, Shin."

"Greetings, Sakura-san," Shintani said.

Sakura nodded acknowledgement.

"Did I hear you right, Sakura-san? There's a bijuu here in Kaze no Kuni?"

Naruto caught Sakura's eyes and shrugged. The cat was out of the bag and there was nothing to be done about it but to live with the consequences.

"Yes, that's right, Shintani-san."

"Please call me Shin. All my friends do," the man replied. "I guess this means that one of the other villages is involved for sure."

"Yeah," Sakura replied before slipping into silence.

"Anything else, Sakura?" Naruto asked. It was like Sakura to blame herself for anything that went wrong – though it really was her fault this time around – but they could not afford the traditional one day of recrimination before she turned around here. The more they learnt, the more it became clear that Suna and Wind's betrayal had caught Konoha off-guard again because of Danzo's incompetence or connivance and time was fast running out. In fact, things were so bad that he was going to have to send a warning to the Godaime through toad-mail this very evening.

"Yeah. The perpetrators are skilled at earth and fire Justus," she replied, casting a look at Sasuke.

The Uchiha scion grinned and rubbed his hands in anticipation. He knew what the news meant for him with his lightning affinity.

"Finally," the maniac said, shaking his fist at the heavens. "I get to kick a fucking bijuu in its nuts all over the place."

"Dude, we're talking about a Jinchuuriki," Kiba corrected him.

Naruto put his hands on Kiba's shoulder and when he had the latter's attention, shook his head.

"Don't disturb him. The idiot's in his happy place."

Team 8 looked at Naruto strangely. Really, how powerful were Team 7 to not even be perturbed by the thought of facing a demon host?

xxxxx

Danzo looked askance at his informant. He hardly believed his ears. Surely, this was fortune smiling on him. It sure felt like he was basking in her radiance.

"Say again?" he asked just to be on the safe side.

"Whoever's helping Wind lent them a Jinchuuriki," Shintani repeated.

Danzo's smile became blinding in its intensity. Finally, he could get his hands on a jinchuuriki of his own. This really was one of the happiest days of his life.

"Thank you, Ishimatsu," he said, dismissing the latter.

Once the man had exited, he turned to his aide.

"Send out two dozen of the Sixty," he said, referring to his hidden reserve of completely brainwashed shinobi, trained to be utterly loyal to Danzo and his cause. They were the most trusted of all the men under his command – Konoha didn't even know they existed – and they wouldn't hesitate to storm the gates of hell for their master. "And get me that Jinchuuriki alive. At all costs."

"Yes, Master."

xxxxx

The 5th Regiment guarded the watering hole – really a spring – on the road to Fire. It was just past four in the morning when most of the camp was asleep and even the guards were drowsy when a toad bigger than a man floated to the surface. Out of its mouth emerged a hand, then another, then a head and finally, half a torso.

"Thanks, Gamakichi," Naruto whispered.

Gamakichi did not reply. His voice had a lot of bass and might attract unwanted attention.

Silently, Naruto pulled an oilskin pouch out of his shirt. Gingerly, he opened it and pulled out a water-soluble capsule a couple of inches in length and two centimeters in diameter. Inside, there was a crystallized cocktail of germs that gave a bad case of the runs, courtesy of Tsunade and her coterie of researchers in Konoha. If Wind thought that stationing a regiment close to a large body of water guaranteed water security, they would learn better in a couple of days when most of their camp got a bad case of dysentery. After all, there was no wood to heat water in the neighborhood and Wind – but curiously not Suna – frowned on booze.

xxxxx

Kakashi stared at the letter from the Wind Daimyo that lay on his desk. It was disturbing that it did not say anything about Danzo's men in Kaze no Kuni. What was even more so were the demands in made in very strong language for the return of the Shukaku to Suna.

That was unprecedented.

In the three years since he put on the cap, there had been many polite requests for the one-tail from time to time. However, the Wind Daimyo had never pressed the issue because there was an unspoken understanding that Konoha would not return the beast. While Kaze no Kuni had never been happy with the arrangement, they had no other option but to live with it. Now, something had happened that Leaf and Fire were not privy to which had resulted in a U-turn in their policy.

There was also Naruto's report, which lay beside the Wind Daimyo's to consider. Sakura had discovered traces of bijuu chakra during her autopsy. That definitely ruled out any Suna nin and infinitely complicated things for Fire and Konoha. One did not a bring a Jinchuuriki into play anywhere – certainly not on foreign soil and certainly not loan said host to another power - unless one was dead serious about honoring one's commitments.

Kakashi had no doubt now that Wind had switched sides and he'd sent his children to be fed to the meat grinder. He could not recall them because Danzo was penned by Kaze no Kuni's regiments and Suna's unknown benefactors. And he could not send them reinforcements because the hammer would fall on Fire hardest and he needed the strength to withstand the first blow.

"Thanks, Kosuke," the Hatake told the toad who'd delivered the message.

"You want I should carry something back for Naruto?" Kosuke asked.

"Only this. There'll be no reinforcements and that they're on their own."

"They're neck deep in trouble," the summon replied.

"My hands are tied, Kosuke. Tell them that I have every confidence in them."

Kosuke nodded and reverse summoned himself.

He heaved a sigh and stretched for his letterhead. Time was of the essence now and he needed to get his forces on the alert soonest. But even more important, the Fire Daimyo needed to know that war was upon them and they were going to face the full brunt of the tempest alone.

xxxxx

Author's notes:

Review please? LOL

Hope this chapter was likeable even though it was most politics and intrigue. There should be action starting from the next chapter – well, I plan to get to the action part by then, anyways.


	19. Murder & Mayhem

The Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 18: Murder & Mayhem

Disclaimer: Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuri! I love you! ROFL

Ishimatsu Shintami was fast asleep when Kiba came to the tent he shared with three others in the barracks. He was a light sleeper, however and woke up when the door creaked.

"The others want to go over some last minute things with you," Kiba said. Then, thinking about it. "It looks like it's going to be a long meeting and I'd bring my things with me if I were you."

Since Shintami had packed stuff for a two week long mission and sealed it away the night before, he simply picked up the scroll, which lay by his bedside and rolled out of bed. Ignoring the groans and mutters the others made at having their rest disturbed, he followed the Inuzuka to the tent that'd been assigned the Konoha shinobi.

"What's the deal?" he asked, walking beside the Inuzuka. "We have a lot of marching ahead of us in the days to come and God knows how long we'll be out on the field. Shouldn't we be getting some rest while we still can?"

Kiba shrugged.

"Hey, I'm just the gofer here, man. But if it's any consolation, you mirrored my sentiments exactly."

Shintami nodded, thinking about any need that'd possibly merit summoning him so late in the night before an important mission. It was suspicious enough that a part of him feared his comrades from Konoha had laid a trap. He knew that it was just his paranoia speaking, but still, he slowed down a notch so that Kiba led the way. If the chuunin noticed his actions, he did not say anything and the two of them walked in silence until they reached their destination.

"What's going on here?" Shintani asked without prelude. He espied Naruto sitting cross-legged in the center of the shelter in the lotus position as if he were a monk. Looking around and taking in the details, he observed that the interior was barren, all furniture apparently having been sealed away in scrolls scattered untidily across the room. Sakura and the others stood crowded together in one corner silently watching the blonde doing whatever it was that he was doing. The only utensil around was a large metal bowl – the kind used to wash one's feet - that someone had filled and secured in another corner. This was certainly not what he had expected when he entered the tent.

Sakura made a hushing motion and the Danzo loyalist shrugged. He would stay silent, but someone had better answer his questions after Naruto was done with his 'thing.' For the time being, he'd keep his peace and not let his irritation get in the way of teamwork.

As they waited for Naruto to come out of his trance, Shintani reflected on the three days that'd passed since the Konoha shinobi walked into camp and Danzo appointed him as their liaison. He had no doubt that in spite of the outward show of friendship, the Godaime's nin had gone out of their way to make his life difficult by being uncooperative. What else could account for the fact that even though he knew them to be extremely competent operators from his own observations as well as assorted intelligence reports, none of the six shared any information unless he explicitly asked for it. They also did not include him while they were making decisions and always informed him after the fact. And if that wasn't enough of an inconvenience, once they decided to act, they made it a point to keep him in the dark until the very last moment. Like, for instance, right now.

Of course, he'd complained to Sakura, who all martial logic to the contrary, seemed to be in charge of the little group – never mind that as per the manual the Aburame should have been in command since he outranked her – but she'd turned a deaf ear to his concerns.

A part of him understood that they did not trust Danzo a great deal and were concerned about security. But frankly speaking, he thought it was rather stupid of them to behave the way they did. For even though he spied on them for his master and made daily reports to his leader, he did not mean them any harm. They were all on the same side and would continue to be until that day in the future came when Danzo-sama's goals were no longer the same as that of the powers that be in Konoha.

Presently, Naruto opened his eyes, forcing Shintami to shelve his thoughts for the time being. The blonde's pupils had somehow metamorphosed during his trance, but if the others expected to see the reaction of Danzo's servant, they were bound to be sorely disappointed. He wondered, however, what was up with the creepy eyes and what had the blonde done to himself to make them change so.

"Yep, found the spot," Naruto, unconcerned by the tense atmosphere, slapped his thigh in satisfaction and announced happily. To Shino, he said, "Bug-boy, could you move that basin over here?"

The Aburame moved to obey.

"Shin-san, you are after me," Naruto continued after scrunching his weird eyes in thought for a second.

Shintami made to ask what, but even as he spoke, the Uzumaki made the necessary blood sacrifice and performed a summoning. A member of the toad clan materialized out of thin air.

"Hey, Boss!" the little toad summon said as soon as it got its bearings. Then it noticed the state of Naruto's eyes. "You addicted to the energy rush or something, boss?"

"Shut up, Kosuke. I'm working here," Naruto replied with a half-hearted glare. Kosuke was sometimes even more annoying than that candy loving, wise-ass of a brat Gamakichi.

"Yeah, about that. Kakashi wanted me to pass you a message."

Naruto shook his head. He did not want to listen to news from home with their liaison around. The damned snitch would pass it on to Danzo. Sakura's mistake was the last freebie the bastard was going to get from them if the blonde had any say in it.

"Whatever it is, it can wait until later. I want to toad-port everyone in this room somewhere."

Kosuke looked around. There were seven people and an Inuzuka clan mutt for the ride. Very much within his limits.

"Too many people," he lied, hoping for a bribe. He had his eyes on a cute little lass back home and she had sweet tooth for tuna. "I need help."

Making a mental note to make it up to Kosuke later, Naruto summoned a second toad without a word. He knew that the little guy was angling for a sweetener, but the latter loved to dicker before striking a bargain and time was of the essence. Of course, the Uzumaki knew that he could agree to owe a favor and get on with it, but prior experience with Gamakichi on a similar matter made him wary. He'd be damned if he agreed to another deal with a toad in a hurry. The last one had brought him enough embarrassment to last a lifetime.

"Now, listen up," he said, pulling out a map and speaking in a voice that was barely loud enough to be heard by everyone present. He pointed to a well some distance from Danzo's camp in the direction of Sunagakure. "We're going here. Kosuke is responsible for Shino, Hinata, Shintani and I. The rest of you follow are with Gama-onna."

It dawned to Shintani then what Naruto had meant by a toad-port. The Konoha shinobi obviously meant to give Danzo the slip so that they could operate without ever-watchful eyes on their back. The liaison felt that this turn of events simply would not do. But the 'escape' was impossible to prevent as it'd already begun – the toad Kosuke had reeled in Naruto with his tongue and swallowed the latter whole. The Leaf nin would resist for certain if he tried to block the getaway and the consequences to his master's plans would be far-reaching and extremely detrimental if Kakashi's brats were killed inside the camp or their blood spilled.

That left Danzo's agent with two choices. He could either refuse to leave now and inform his master, or he could accompany them and keep his comrades informed with his own summons. With the former, there was a possibility that the Konoha shinobi would disappear into thin air and handicap the exiled Root Commander by denying him intelligence on their actions. The latter, however, did not suffer from that disadvantage. And because it was the best of all realistic choices, Shintani stood still when the toad's slimy tongue wrapped around him and dragged him into its gut.

Damned he was if he did not hate the loathsome pests with a passion!

xxxxx

The few fish swimmingly their lives lazily by scrambled to the edges as two toads appeared out of thin air at the bottom of the well. The toads, for their part, ignored the local fauna and lethargically swam to the top. On breaking the water surface, they opened their mouths wide and out popped Naruto from one and a brief second later, Sasuke from another.

As he emerged, Naruto's eyes were focused on the sky. He caught sight of a robed stranger staring down at them from the mouth of the well. He waved to the man once his hands were free, but the stranger screamed in terror and ran, leaving his livestock behind. The Uzumaki mentally thanked his luck that it was only a civilian and not some shinobi who'd got the drop on them and made a note to let the toads do some scouting in the future before insertion. He signaled Sasuke and ninjato at the ready, they jumped out of the well.

A minute later, everyone was out and on flat ground. Naruto, who'd taken charge of the perimeter along with Sasuke, pointed at the fleeing civilian with his hand, drawing everyone's attention to the man. His action offered the perfect opportunity to take care of traitor troubles, and Sakura, who'd been helping the others out and who stood closest to Shintani, seized the moment to stab the man in the back of his neck neatly severing his spine. As the body went limp and started to collapse, she shifted her leg a little to avoid getting blood on her person. There was no need to stink of blood and death when they were only a minute into the insertion.

Naruto shot a smile at the Haruno and gave her a thumbs-up. So far, things appeared to be going exceedingly well. Hopefully, the rest of the mission would be just as simple as taking the tiresome spy out.

"Kiba, take care of that civilian. We don't want witnesses," he said, turning to face the Inuzuka.

The Team 8 member nodded and shooting a single contemptuous look at their erstwhile liaison, took off after his victim with Akamaru. Naruto walked up to the well and kicked the body hard out of spite. Then he spat on the man for good measure. If he had time, he would piss on the bastard as well.

"Fucking spy," he cursed the corpse and turned to Sasuke, "Want to do the rest of the honors?"

Sasuke nodded and made shooing motions with his hands. His companions moved away from the body and once he judged the distance safe, he incinerated the body with a gokakyu so hot that it melted the sand to glass. A black plume rose into the sky as the body burned and the air stank of well-cooked pork.

Even as the flames crackled and roared, Hinata ran to the tallest rock within eyesight on her own initiative and did a quick scan of the area with her eyes. If there were unfriendly forces nearby, the smoke would attract them like moths to flame.

Meanwhile, Naruto turned to his frog companions as Gama-onna grabbed a stray locust with her tongue and happily munched on the crispy critter from her perch on his head.

"So, what did the Hokage say, Kosuke?" he asked.

"He said you're on your own," Kosuke replied, turning away from the blaze. One of the reasons he loved Team 7 so was fire. He was a pyromaniac at heart and wherever his friends went, an inferno was sure to follow. "Hi no Kuni's mobilizing for war, but he can't spare help for you."

Naruto shrugged. It was what they'd expected.

"That's okay. We figured that'd be the case. Thanks, Kosuke. And you too, Gama-onna."

The frogs did the vanishing trick and poofed away. Working his tongue on a cavity, Naruto turned to Kiba, who was walking back to them. Akamaru was at the Inuzuka's side, dragging along their victim by his leg with his powerful jaws. The man's neck was bent at an unnatural angle, leaving no doubt as to his fate. There appeared to be no other marks on the man.

"You didn't use a weapon?" Sakura asked just to be sure.

"As if I'd do anything that stupid. Akamaru took care of it by himself. I didn't even touch the bastard." He spit in the direction of the fire to show his contempt for the other dead bastard. Like Naruto and Sasuke, when Kiba hated, he hated with all his heart. The converse was also true.

"Good."

Kiba nodded absentmindedly and went on his knees to check Akamaru's feather shoes. The damned contraptions slowed down his friend and made him less effective as a warrior, but it was necessary. Canine tracks as big as Akamaru's were considered as evidence of Konoha involvement across the ninja world. As for the bite marks, there were any number of implements out on the market – sold by Konoha, of course – that perfectly mimicked a dog's provided you could borrow drool from an innocent household pet. For this very reason, some ninja villages bred rabid dogs.

"Well, that's that," the Inuzuka announced, clapping his hands in satisfaction and stretching his back.

"Yep," Sasuke replied.

Naruto grinned predatorily.

"Enjoy your peace while it lasts, Suna, for here we come!"

xxxxx

Colonel Saigo Takamori of the 3rd Restoration Brigade rose on his horse and inspected the four regiments assembled before him. His whole command of five thousand three hundred soldiers and support personnel was arrayed before him. Ninja were the sole exception, for as the designated scouts, they'd left much earlier. There was the Colonel's shinobi guard, of course, but they never put themselves on display.

The conscripts stood at rigid attention in excellent formation. The leaf-blades of the pikemen shone brightly in the sun and the colors of the brigade fluttered proudly in the air as a grizzled samurai, the color bearer of the brigade, stood proudly next to the Colonel. Judging his troops ready, Takamori twitched a finger at his XO, who in turn signaled the bugler. The bugle sounded march and rank by rank, regiment by regiment, the brigade and its accoutrements commenced their three day march to the Kaze no Kuni border.

"Everything appears to be in order," Takamori commented to his XO, Lt. Colonel Beppu Shinsuke once they were on the road.

The Lt. Colonel, another samurai like the Colonel himself, nodded.

"They could stand to be a bit seasoning," he replied.

Takamori shrugged. It was a fact of nature that soldiers could always use a little extra experience.

"Soldiers could always use more training. The pertinent question is, do you think we have trained them enough for the mission?"

"They're steady enough. Having veteran samurai in their ranks to train and lead them has worked very well once we got over the initial hiccups."

"Funny to hear you speak of broken bones, and dead samurai and civilian recruits as a hiccup."

"It had to be done."

"Indeed. Still, I've never liked executing my men."

The 3rd Restoration Brigade was one of seven new formations created two and a half years back using conscripts from the farmer and merchant classes. This caused much disgruntlement to the samurai class who felt that war was the domain of their caste alone. But the Daimyo – who was widely acclaimed to be the strongest rule in Fire's history – had overridden their protests claiming that the recruits would be used primarily as a provincial guard as garrison troops and would not be a part of the regular army. Saigo Takamori had been one of a handful of high-ranking samurai who'd seen the potential in the force and volunteered for it. The government had put forward the remainder of the samurai seed for the new units, including the veteran foot soldiers.

The transferees had all been troublemakers that no one wanted. Some were incompetent cretins, others were misfits and still others had list string of disciplinary offenses as long as they were tall for any number of misdemeanors. But they were all proud samurai who felt great dishonor and shame for their apparent fall from grace. Naturally, there had been plenty of friction between the farmer and merchant conscripts and the veteran warriors. It'd taken more than a year of harsh training and some very tough decisions – a few involving court martials and the gallows – to turn the lot into a fighting unit that Takamori privately considered the equal on any samurai unit he'd served with during the many years of his service. Individually, of course, any samurai was the equal of three or even four of his civilian conscripts, but fighting as a unit with their pikes, their bows and their newfangled catapult artillery, there was none better.

"I don't think anyone does."

"True. We're heading into the furnace now. We should know how useful is this new-forged sword and whether the dead souls were a worthy price soon enough."

"We may get reamed," Shinsuke commented. He was by nature a cynical soul.

"It's your job and mine to ensure we avoid that."

"And what happens afterwards? You know what the majority of samurai feel about the new formations."

Takamori barked a laugh.

"Oh, they'll all be too busy fighting for their lives in the short term. You've read the same reports I have. We're facing an alliance of Lightning and Earth along with a few minor countries. And now, there's also Wind that's apparently decided to throw in with our enemies."

"And after that?"

The Colonel, who understood better than his oldest and most loyal friend what the conscript army meant for his caste, stared straight ahead. In a hundred years, his caste would have faded from the face of the earth. But his decision had been made a long time back. His kind and their ilk be damned, his loyalty was to his Daimyo and to his country.

"We all do what we must," Shinsuke replied. "If we win, we'll worry about the afterwards. The present has enough troubles, don't you think so?"

The Lt. Colonel nodded.

"I would that Hi no Kuni had more time to prepare."

"Your enemy screws up your plans. That's why he's called the enemy, after all."

"Well, anyways," Shinsuke said, changing the subject, "I hope those assholes in supply come through on their lofty promises."

"Kuwayama Yeiichi usually comes through on his promises. And if he doesn't, we'll appropriate comestibles from nearby granaries," Takamori replied serenely. Maj. Kuwayama was the brigade's S4, the logistics officer and Shinsuke was his best friend. "Mind, with war looming around the corner, I'd avoid that if possible in case we end up being besieged. Anyways, we'll see."

xxxxx

The midday sun shone mercilessly on her back as she scanned the horizon with eyes that were naturally better than any manmade telescope. The corpses of the observation post's garrison as well as the unfortunate water carriers who'd been on a resupply mission were starting to stink something awful in the afternoon heat, but she ignored the stench just as she tried to ignore the other things being done behind her back.

Immediately after the Konoha shinobi overran the post and executed the last of the prisoners, Kiba had argued to throw the bodies out. His nose was too sensitive to the foul odors of rotting carcass and shit combined together, but Team 7 had collectively refused.

They had use for the corpses as tools in psychological warfare.

After setting Team 8 to watch the approaches, Naruto and co spent an hour building crosses from the metal frames of the cots used by the garrison. They used their constructions to crucify the bodies on the slope facing Suna. In case that wasn't enough of a provocation for Suna, they also desecrated the bodies of the Suna nin by skinning the dead – one of whom had been alive at the start of the procedure until Sakura mercifully cut his throat, – disemboweling them or cutting out their eyes, ears and tongue.

That wasn't what disturbed Hinata to the core, however. She'd seen and done enough inhumane things to the guerillas and their supporters in Tea to have developed a mental shield against such horrors. But seeing Team 7 going about the task while having a whispered conversation full of jokes had nauseated her.

Then, suddenly, they were no longer alone.

"Inbound contact at 2 O'clock and 9 O'clock!" Hinata barked, as her eyes picked up two separate patrols on different vectors for their hill.

Naruto came and stood beside the Hyuuga. She tried to ignore the blood on his hands and his ANBU issue ninjato.

"Range, ETA and numbers?" he asked, shooting her a look.

The Hyuuga was a veteran and should have reported those details as well. He had disciplined such failures on the field in the past, but in light of present circumstances, he was willing to excuse her once. For all that their first few months had been baptized by blood, it had taken him and Sakura a very long time before they learnt to shield themselves from the horrors they were forced to perpetrate as part of their trade, after all. And to this day, it got to him sometimes.

"The one on our 9 O'clock is the closest. Range is approximately 1500 yards. ETA is five minutes in this terrain. There are twelve shinobi in that group. The other one has ten shinobi. Range is greater than 2000 yards. They'll probably take seven or eight minutes to intercept us."

Naruto nodded and turned to Kiba and Shino.

"Either of you able to sense the enemies?" he asked.

They shook their heads and Naruto looked thoughtful.

"Okay, everyone, listen up. This is what we're going to do. We're going to defeat the two response teams in detail. We'll do that by advancing on the group on our 9 O'clock. We'll engage them in that level ground over there. I'll hold their attention. Sasuke and Sakura will hit them on the flank while I keep them distracted. Team 8 will be the reserve and hide themselves in that ravine just to the north-west of the flats. Do not worry about runners. They'll know reinforcements are on their way and will try to pin us down. But we'll hit hard and move fast. In case we're caught between two units, Kiba, Shino and Hinata will fall on their rear and relieve the pressure. Otherwise, I don't want to reveal you three this time. Is that clear?"

Everyone was.

"Good, let's show these Suna pussies what it means to mess with Fire and Leaf."

xxxxx

The Suna nin commander led his reinforced squad on an assault through the badlands to retake the observation post that'd fallen to an unknown force some hours back. He knew that the garrison manning the station was dead – their last broadcast report before communication ceased had stated that the position was about to be overrun. But if he couldn't rescue them, he damned well was going to exact vengeance in equal measure on their murderers. Afterwards, they would visit the same upon Danzo for daring send his killers so close to Sunagakure. The bastard had managed to elude justice for so long only because of lack of evidence, but after this day, the Suna nin commander would ensure that it would no longer be the case. Even if he had to cook up the proof himself.

Spotting a masked Naruto holding a blade and blocking the trail about two hundred yards in their line of advance, the commander slowed down and signaled two teams of two to take the man on his flank.

The blonde moved before the Suna teams could even begin to obey their leader and launch an attack, however. One moment, the blade-wielding Uzumaki was standing far away and the next, he was in the commander's face, throwing a powerful spin kick to his head. The Suna nin raised his arm barely in time to block the blow for all the good it did him. The kick easily broke the bones in his hands and still had enough force behind it that when it slammed into his target's head it instantly crushed his skull. The resultant vector shot him across the hard, rock-studded ground, where he pin wheeled and crashed into a boulder some distance away with a sickening thud. The only saving grace was that Naruto's victim was dead long before he hit the ground.

The surviving Suna nin stared at Naruto goggle-eyed at the quick victory. Their commander had been a decorated and highly experienced jounin and yet, the blonde assassin had crushed him as if he was really a genin.

Enjoying the trepidation his enemies felt, Naruto slid into an easy stance with his ninjato held away from his body, mocking them. To add insult to Suna's injured pride, he made no move to retreat when the survivors advanced on him.

"I'm here to kill you, Suna pussies," he said with a snicker.

"Motherfucker!" one of the Suna nin cursed hoarsely and charged, his weapons at the ready. The man's squad mates rallied around his defiant cry and followed his lead.

However, the counterattack ended less than a second later when Naruto disappeared once again. He reappeared at the wannabe avenger's position to strike the man and the Suna nin flew back from the strength of the blow. The victim hit the ground haphazardly some distance away and skidded to a halt. Luckily, he escaped the visually spectacular crash with only a few scrapes, but not even a single laceration, much less a broken bone. Unfortunately, the ninjato sticking out on both sides of his chest where Naruto had stabbed him through the heart had been instantly fatal.

Still, even as Naruto struck the fatal blow, the man's teammates attacked en masse, aiming to bring him down with sheer weight of numbers. But if the survivors thought that the blonde was vulnerable after striking such a powerful blow, they were sorely disappointed. As the first of the lot reached him, he moved into his assailant's guard, shoved him into the next one and jumped clear of the trap.

The nin that Naruto shoved crashed into his neighbor and together they went down – one screaming in pain as the other's kunai embedded deep in his arm. But even as they fell, another Suna nin quickly ran through the requisite seals and shot a chakra flare into the sky signaling for help. The man realized that he and the others may have bitten off more than they could chew and would need all the help they could get to bring down the killer in their midst. In parallel with his actions, the remaining shinobi unleashed elemental attacks at their assailant.

Impromptu blades of wind and streams of fire and water hit the masked ninja. Wind and flame combined to turn the flames into a superhot inferno and water evaporated into superheated steam at the temperatures involved. A shroud of steam fast enveloped the area, obscuring sight, and scalding and sterilizing everything in its way.

The Suna nin scrambled aside, both to avoid the expanding cloud of steam and to prevent their enemy from getting the drop on them if he'd survived. If they could not pinpoint his position and he could localize theirs through some means, then they would be at even more of a disadvantage. And with someone as powerful as their belligerent, that was the last thing they needed if they wanted to survive.

Seconds passed in silence as everyone waited with their guards up for the steam to clear. Since any potentially sound could give them away, the wounded shinobi – a chuunin – quietly bit into a spare kunai, and slapping a field bandage over his wound, downed a shot of field anesthetic. The powerful narcotic would prevent him from participating directly in the battle, but it would not so impair him that he could not provide his teammates with support from afar with the two ranged attacks he had in his arsenal.

But for some reason, the steam did not clear. In fact, it seemed to grow thicker still as the seconds passed.

"Genjutsu!" someone shouted in warning, finally putting two and two together and realizing what must have happened.

On hearing those dreaded words, the surviving Sand ninja scrambled desperately in a race against time to break the illusion. The illusionary steam cleared as their chakra coils reasserted themselves and the survivors saw that even their quick reaction hadn't been fast enough. They were now two less in number, and the wounded chuunin and another were dead.

In fact, even as they gained situation awareness, a third individual – another chuunin – fell as a Sakura materialized behind him and repeatedly stabbed him in the back, puncturing both his kidneys in the process. Her victim went down on his knees with his mouth gaping wide open in a silent rictus of excruciating agony and died of exsanguination. His neighbor shot a quick gokakyu at the assassin medic. He charged with his kunai, aiming to get in close and take her down, but she twisted out of his attack. As he stepped past her, she tapped him on the back of his head with glowing hands and he fell like a puppet that had its strings cut.

Six down.

Seeing their numbers reduced to half the original strength, one of the survivors spared a glance at his compatriots. The ease with which his teammates had fallen convinced him that discretion was the better part of valor and he turned to make a run for it. He did not make it five yards, however, before Sasuke kawarimi-d into his path and stuck a punch dagger in his groin. The man went down hard, wailing loudly.

Naruto reentered the fray then, having taken a break for heaven knew what once Sakura joined battle. His prey neatly stepped out of his initial blow with an impressive jump to put as much distance between the two of them as possible. Unfortunately for him, the Uzumaki simply kawarimi-d the man in the middle of the fight and sent him on a crashing course with his pink haired teammate. The Haruno, for her part, brushed the Suna nin with her deadly hands before he could realized what was happening and he collapsed on the dirt, internally bleeding to death from a severed aorta.

Concurrently, the remaining four survivors of the original Suna force found themselves in dire straits. Three were dragged into the ground courtesy of traps dug by kage bunshin and buried up to their necks in the hot sands. The fourth was set upon by Sasuke and went down under a flurry of blows with a fine spray of blood to decorate his passage into the next world as the Uchiha made short work of him with his ninjato.

In all, less than a minute had passed since the Suna team realized they were under a genjutsu.

"That was anti-climatic after the anticipation of the last new days. I'll grant that steam attack was awesome, however," the Naruto observed, pulling out his ninjato from his victim's chest with a heave. The blade was nicked from when the moron had rolled on the fucking ground. The blonde just knew that such idiots who could not even die gracefully ended up in a nasty corner of hell. "I mean, the bastards did not even put up a fight."

"We were more powerful than the lot and we had surprise on our side. What else did you expect?" Sasuke replied thoughtfully. Then, whatever fancy struck him, he decided to go on an ego-trip. "But seriously, who cares how a bunch of Suna-fucks die. The only thing that matters here is that I was awesome."

"Shut up, Uke," Sakura replied heatedly, hefting a rock and approaching the three trapped nin. She'd killed five and was about to execute three more while the two wimps had only managed four between them. They had no right to talk the way they did. "Why didn't you enter the genjutsu earlier?"

Sasuke, not understanding the thin ground he stood on, sneered.

"And miss a grand entrance? If Naruto gets to make one, so do I!"

"Sasuke," the Haruno ground angrily, "should I kick your ass for being an idiot on the battlefield?"

She punctuated her words by bringing the rock down on the heads of the three trapees one after another, caving their skulls in. With ten more inbound, Team 7 couldn't afford to leave the three alive. Not that she could let them live after learning the names of her teammates. Then there was also the Godaime's standing order to execute Suna nin… _Never mind with the nitpicking, the bastards are dead._

"Nope!" Sasuke replied cheerily.

"Bastard!"

Naruto chuckled at the byplay and clapped his hands together to draw his teammates' attention. Sasuke and Sakura turned to him and he pointed them in the right direction with his hand.

"I was starting to wonder where the rest had gone," he said. "On me, my trusty sidekicks."

"Fuck you, Naruto!" Sasuke replied with a snort. Nevertheless, he took position at the blonde's side.

"In your dreams," the Uzumaki replied, running through the seals and filling his lungs with air.

The Uchiha shook his head at that clichéd retort and flicked his blade to get rid of the blood some. He would have to clean it better after the coming engagement, but for now, the little shake would have to do.

By this time, the Suna nin were only fifty yards away now and starting their final rush. They were split into five teams with reasonable separation between them. They looked to be reasonably well led unlike the first squad and wonder of wonders, there was even a genjutsu user amongst them. Naruto shrugged off the illusion as it laid hold on him – he may not be able to do illusionary techniques worth a damn, but he was very experienced at dispelling them. He had two extremely talented users for teammates and they'd been encouraged by all his teachers to use him as a guinea pig, after all – and breathed out the powerful S-ranked katon zukoku targeting the two teams on the left. The genjutsu adept was on that flank and the Uzumaki aimed to burn the bastard to cinder.

The charging Suna nin did not stand a chance against the furious, hot flames and were immolated at such close quarters. Everything in the direction of the conflagration for hundreds of yards went up in smoke.

Even as Naruto spewed fire, Sasuke and Sakura countercharged the remaining three teams. The Uchiha went in first with a lightning fast, but extravagant cut with his ninjato. His target weaved out of the way, which accomplished Sasuke's goal of splitting him and his teammate. Sakura rushed in to seize the opportunity, but before she could even land a blow, she was forced to jump back to avoid a lightning technique that a kunoichi from a second team threw at her.

Right at the very moment, Naruto flew in fast with his ninjato. His eyes were set on the kunoichi who thwarted Sakura as his next target, but her teammate raised an earthen wall to protect her. The Uzumaki jumped back and joined his teammates.

The Suna nin confidently advanced.

Sakura threw a genjutsu and Naruto threw a weak daitoppa at the ground. As their enemies fought to suppress the illusion and overcome the improvised dust screen, the blonde jumped high into the air. Simultaneously, Sasuke charged straight ahead and Sakura sank into the ground.

Two of the Suna nin acting in tandem retaliated by throwing a wall of shuriken into the air that was sped along its merry way by a powerful daitoppa. Naruto was hit multiple times in midair and hit the ground hard, crumbling into dirt as he did. The real Uzumaki shot a powerful blast of fire from his assailants' rear and one raised an earthen wall to defend his teammate and himself. The other slammed his hand into the ground and summoned a weasel. As the roar of flames died down, the weasel unleashed a powerful wind strike – wind attacks were a specialty of the weasel clan – that cut through the wall as knife through butter and battered the area where Naruto stood.

The Uzumaki kawarimi-d himself out of harm's way and slamming his hand on the ground, performed a yomi numa. His opponents jumped clear of the mud swamp that formed under their feet, but the act separated them and an earth clone body checked the wind user hard as he neared the end of his flight. The man stabbed the clone even as it slammed into him, but the clone's purpose was accomplished. With one ribs broken and two more bruised from the hit, the Suna nin no longer had the mobility he had at the start of the fight.

The wind user's partner, seeing the other's predicament, rushed Naruto to buy his partner time to regain his feet, but the latter had him outclassed in everything that mattered. Easily overpowering the weasel with a quick shunshin, the blonde stabbed it with his blade. Then, as he ran sideways to avoid the hail of shuriken the earth user threw at him, he caught an errant projectile between the fingers of his free hand and advanced on his opponent. Naruto's ninjato came up to eviscerate his enemy even as he flung back the throwing star as a distraction, but the man was a smart one and kawarimi-d out of danger. Still, the Uzumaki got a piece of the middle finger of his left hand and the pain from the wound would only increase the time it took the Suna nin to execute techniques.

The blonde smiled grimly at his little victory and rocketed forward, seeking to press home his advantage for a quick victory. But his opponent had time enough to bring up a kunai and point it so that Naruto ran straight into the razor sharp blade even as he himself leaned under the Konoha nin's blade. The Uzumaki opened his mouth to scream in pain and his henge vanished into thin air. Another copy came from the side slashing and cut up the replacement left behind by the Suna nin in two.

Naruto barely had a moment then to realize that he'd walked into a trap when blades of wind slammed into his back and shredded him into little slivers. The dirt from the mud clone and fell to the earth to form a little puddle. Realizing the peril he was in, the wind user preemptively twisted out of the way but he acted too late. The Uzumaki's ninjato cut bone and flesh as it penetrated into his chest cavity and he threw up his head, screaming and writhing in agony.

The blonde nodded in satisfaction. That strike had pierced the right lung and as evidence, his victim collapsed on the ground, bright arterial blood flowing out of his mouth. Well, maybe, that cut got more than a piece of the lung.

"You bastard," the dying man's partner screamed hoarsely and charged.

In return, Naruto jumped over his victim and counter-charged his assailant. They met midway in the air and furiously exchanged blows. The Uzumaki attacked with his blade and the enemy fought with his kunai, but there really was no hope for the latter. The blonde's skill with the blade was mediocre at best, but he outclassed the other so much in speed and agility with the added advantage of greater reach from his weapon that the outcome of the fight was a foregone conclusion.

Thus, when his opponent made one misguided thrust with his kunai aiming to sever the blonde's jugular, Naruto grabbed hold of the offending appendage in a vice grip with his free hand. Then, holding the Suna nin firmly in place by twisting his arm, the Uzumaki chopped it off with the ninjato held in his other hand. This proved to be a big mistake as arterial blood fountained all over the blonde's face and rendered him temporarily blind.

Sensing the danger he was in, Naruto jumped backwards to gain some breathing space. He landed badly even though the jump did not carry him all that far and he fell down. Nevertheless, he released his enemy's severed hand and wiped at his face furiously, ignoring the stinging pain from the cut he'd received when his ninjato bit into his flesh during the fall. He knew his only hope for survival was to regain his vision as fast as possible. A blind man had no place facing even a cripple in a battlefield, after all. Not unless he had suicide wish, whereupon it would be granted post haste.

As Naruto worked on his eyes, the Suna nin fumbled another kunai from his holster and staggered drunkenly towards his prey. He was mere feet away and fast losing consciousness from blood loss when Naruto regained his eyesight. For whatever reason – perhaps because he knew he was moments away from death by blood loss and wanted to go out in as flamboyant a manner as possible or because he was a patriot who worked to rid his nation of its enemies even at deathbed – the shinobi jumped into the air, aiming to use the force of his crash to stab the blonde fatally in his chest.

His dreams were not to be, however, as a kunai took him in his head with a resounding thwack at the apex of his flight. Naruto rolled safely out of the away as the man's lifeless body crashed into the ground and lay twitching.

The Uzumaki knew what that kunai meant and laid on his back over the blistering hot ground, thanking whatever god had favored him in today's battle. He remained thus until Sasuke and Sakura walked into his view. The Uchiha dutifully extended a hand and the blonde grabbed hold of it and pulled himself up. Once he'd regained his feet, he looked around and confirmed what he knew – that they were only ones left standing in the field.

"Thanks, Sasuke, Sakura," he said quietly with a rueful smile on his face.

"Could have happened to anyone," the Uchiha replied. Hell, it had even happened to him once.

Naruto chuckled and doggedly walked over to inspect their downed enemies. He used a kage bunshin armed with a kunai to slit their throats one by one. They were all dead except for one caught in his fire attack, but the blonde liked to be thorough. The lone survivor was horribly burned and barely alive. There wasn't a patch of skin on him that wasn't burnt to a crisp and he kept up a low frequency keen at his own unimaginable pain.

"Oh, shut up," the Uzumaki muttered as he lifted his leg and stomped on the poor bastard's throat, putting the man out of his misery. His motivation in granting even this small mercy was twofold. One, it was the right thing to do and two, to maximize the psychological effect of this massacre on Suna's ruling establishment, they could leave no survivors behind.

xxxxx

Author's notes:

Well, that's that for this chapter. Please leave reviews.

Team 7, as clearly shown in this chapter, are loyal and honorable, but are also cold blooded killers who'd shed their humanity to protect their country. The last run-on battle was particularly hard to write as I had to include multiple viewpoints for most of the scene. But I hope you, my readers, liked it. I will confess that I had a lot of fun writing the part where Naruto almost dies. There is a lesson in that incident and that is, even heroes die from stupid accidents. Naruto was lucky this time, but next time, he or his friends may not…

Thanks to The Unicorn for pointing out something really stupid in this chapter. I've corrected it now. LOL

Next up: Diplomatic accusations and truant jinchuurikis! LOL Keep reading! If you have stuck with me this far, I think you'll like the stuff to come.


	20. Not a Chapter

This is not a chapter. Had posted a preview here earlier, but the full chapter's done now and there's no need for the preview now. Please click next to read the next chapter.


	21. The Birth of Legends

The Best Laid Plans

Chapter 19: The Birth of Legends

Arun

Disclaimer: The cheating whore of Troy!

xxxxx

The man with the spiky hair in the one-eyed mask paced before his associates with his hands clasped behind his back. His three colleagues in the room formed the inner circle of their organization and he'd called them together to discuss strategy. As things stood, their original plans could not be executed and they needed a new one.

The mask-wearer himself was angry, for his plans for accursed Konoha had been stymied. Yet again. Like his predecessor/successor before him – depending on how you looked at things – that insignificant worm Sarutobi had thrown a monkey wrench in his plans three years back during the Sound-Sand raid on Konoha. Since then, Leaf had turned the entire Shinobi world on its head and its retired Hokage had disappeared the One Tailed demon off the face of the Earth. The tailed beasts needed to be sealed in a specific order and breaking the sequence would result in disaster. And for three long years, the Akatsuki had searched for the demons whereabouts in vain only to come up empty handed.

"This is intolerable," the man growled, stopping in the middle of the room and turning to face his friends.

"Please, Madara, calm yourself," the lone woman in the group said.

"Calm?" Madara spat the word aloud. "Konan, perhaps you've forgotten this little fact, but the purpose of Akatsuki is to capture the tailed beasts. Our long-term goals are contingent on our ability to execute that part of the plan successfully. And yet, here we stand, three years into the investigation to uncover the Shukaku and we still don't know where Monkey-brains hid it."

The man in white and black with the Venus flytrap on his shoulders nodded.

"Granted our efforts so far have failed, but that's only because everyone who knows the secret of the One Tail are high visibility targets in the highest echelons of power in Leaf and Fire and we couldn't touch them without setting alarm bells off across the elemental countries. But, Madara, war is afoot again and the time is nearly upon us when we needn't be so circumspect about our actions and their ramifications. Pretty soon, we'll send for Sarutobi and get the measure of the man."

The man stepped two paces closer to his seated conspirators and subordinates.

"Konoha's been victorious in every war fought since its foundation."

Konan nodded.

"Perhaps, but this one is different. They had allies to help them and numerous legends in their ranks before. What they have today are a bunch of has-beens who are too old to take the field anymore."

"Legends are forged in the heat of battle. Let's not forget that," Madara reminded her.

"They are beset from three directions at once," Konan retorted.

"Perhaps. But we will not underestimate Konoha like so many have to their detriment before. Leaf has a way of throwing surprises as I can well attest."

The others remained silent. Shinobi legends and bogeymen made the rank and file of Akatsuki, but Madara was a monster even by those standards. Any man who survived a fight with the Yellow Flash unscathed was.

"Pain, when the time comes to fetch Sarutobi, you will handle it personally. I'm not ready to trust anyone else with a task of this magnitude."

The man who'd remained quiet until then nodded.

"It'll be done once the war starts."

"Good."

xxxx

Brigadier Mamoru, the commander of the Fire garrison guarding the main highway to Grass country, dismissed the ninja messenger. Then he wound the communiqué that the recently departed shinobi had delivered and slapped it against his left palm thoughtfully. He did not think for more than a minute.

"Rei," he addressed his aide, "please summon the staff for a meeting."

Rei acknowledged the order and retired to carry it out. The Brigadier fetched himself a cup of herbal tea and sat down, scratching his chin. Wind had found allies and was maneuvering for war with Hi no Kuni. Fire was truly caught with their pants down with their betrayal and now, the country was scampering to mobilize for war that was in all probability only a few weeks away. And if Cloud was involved, then his brigade was looking at some very interesting times ahead.

xxxx

General Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at the missive hand-delivered by messenger summon only a few minutes back. Fire's enemies had managed to hoodwink Hi no Kuni's intelligence apparatus rather well and hidden their preparations for war until it was almost too late to react, but he wasn't surprised too much. Fire and Leaf alone did not have a monopoly on competent people, after all.

Sarutobi reflected that it was a good thing that Fire had been preparing for a hot war in the near future as well because it was clear from the evidence at hand that they were about to be hammered by their enemies, probably from multiple axis at once. He was confident of Fire's chances in the long run, but he had his doubts about the first few months. The first blows were going to be the hardest because not only were they going to have to fight on multiple fronts, but they'd have to do it while being outnumbered as well. Hopefully, Hi no Kuni's preparations were enough to weather the initial onslaught.

In Fire's favor, they had a good blue water navy – thanks to the conquest of Tea – to defend their shipping and they were blessed with internal lines of communication and excellent logistics. It'd be a simple thing to use their navy to threaten the enemies' seaborne merchant traffic and to blockade their ports. Plus, there was the new unit that Konoha had secretly built over the last three years. And there were the new volunteer formations raised by the Daimyo to consider.

Sarutobi picked up his quill. The insurgency in Tea was in its last gasps and no longer needed as many nin to fight as had been the case earlier and he knew just the right unit to sent to reinforce Konoha's frontline units.

xxxx

Everyone knew the old man raised pigeons as a hobby. He lived by himself, and sold cheap breakfast and lunch to laborers who worked on the rice fields. On the side, he delivered pigs to the nearby Grass country garrison's quartermaster once a week. He etched a meager living, but he was amiable and possessed a generous heart. He'd moved into the area only a decade back, but he'd helped so many people and made so many friends that he was accepted as a part of the community. No one suspected him of being a spy and certainly, no one kept tabs on him.

In truth, the old man was a sleeper agent. Fire had planted him for the express purpose of watching the only road that was good enough for moving a sizeable body of troops between Tsuchi no Kuni and Hi no Kuni through Kusa no Kuni. Grass had long been Fire's ally, but alliances had always been fluid things in the world of shinobi, and as he watched four battalions of Earth infantry march by his home without being challenged by their Grass counterparts, the old man thought to himself that it looked like this one had just about run its course.

That afternoon, at the end of the lunch-hour rush, the old man spent a few minutes chatting with his friends from the village. Then, he headed to the roof to tend to his pigeons. He picked a very special one – the one he'd bought off a merchant passing through the village and which he'd always kept locked in its cage – and after feeding the bird its best meal ever, released it from its cage. The feed was also its most expensive treat ever as it contained three little pips of gold. Minutes later, the homing pigeon was on its way to Hi no Kuni.

xxxxx

With Suna nin behind them and to either side, Teams 7 and 8 knowingly advanced towards another force of unknown strength that had a jinchuuriki in its ranks. The poor Sand shinobi thought they had the intruders trapped, but Naruto knew the fools were seeing things ass-backwards. He and his teammates were the hunters in this silly drama and not the hunted. The stupid Suna sods did not know it yet, but he had them right where he wanted.

"Hinata, report?" Naruto barked as they crested a dune and finally, the low hill that was their objective came into view.

"The position is undefended," the byakugan user replied, briefly activating her far-seeing eyes. "Enemy dispositions on the flanks and the rear remain the same relative to ours. There is no sign of the jinchuuriki as of yet on our van."

"Excellent work, Hinata," the blonde praised as they continued in the easy lopping jog they'd been using throughout the day up the hill. He turned to Kiba and Shino next. "Do either of you sense anything that Hinata's missed?"

"None at this time," Shino replied easily.

"Good," Sakura nodded. "We will stick to the plan. Hinata, Shino and Kiba, you're our medical party, observer section and our operational reserve. Naruto, you're in charge of command and communication. You're also in charge of security in our rear and our flanks. Keep the Suna nin on our tail and our sides away from Sasuke and I at all cost. The two of us are responsible for the jinchuuriki and that's going to be a bitch and a half by itself with us fresh and rested."

Everyone repeated their tasking verbatim so that everyone's responsibility was clear. Once they reached the top of the hill, Naruto unsealed the huge canteens of water they'd appropriated from the overrun Suna observation post as well as a tent and short range encrypted radios for communication. Sasuke produced energy rations, and Hinata and Sakura distributed blood and chakra pills. Kiba tended to Akamaru, removing the dog's feather shoes for the first time in days and Shino began mining the area with explosive tags on kunai. There were a great many of both and his kikai bugs would detonate the tags whenever someone other than his allies approached them. As Shino went about this business, Naruto used earth techniques to demolish boulders that obstructed the line of fire in a rough circle with a radius of several hundred yards from the top of the hill while the others took care of nature. Finally, they raised a canopy to give them shade.

Everything was set.

xxxxx

Danzo glared balefully at the open expanse of Wind country from his position atop the rampart of his little fort. He was angry because Kakashi's bastard children had gone missing and Ishimatsu had disappeared with them. The latter, he knew, was almost certainly one with his ancestors. The ex-Root commander wasn't concerned about the fate of his subordinate, but he was worried that he wouldn't get his hands on the unnamed jinchuuriki.

"Any news from the hunters?" he asked his aide, knowing the answer well. Kakashi couldn't be allowed to get his hands on yet another jinchuuriki.

"Nothing positive so far, Danzo-sama. They haven't made contact with the enemy still."

Danzo nodded calmly, though he felt otherwise. The hunt for the jinchuuriki and its cohorts had been on for weeks now and the results had been depressing. Hopefully, Kakashi's darlings would have the same trouble as his Root.

"Let's get out of this heat. Events will unfold as they will and there's precious little we can do from here. The day is young yet and we have yet another meeting with that prick of a diplomat, what's-his-name Koiso. I wonder what new threats the bastard will make today."

xxxxx

"I hate this fucking desert," the kunoichi groused as she and her team jogged towards their destination.

Her nearest companion – their Suna liaison – chuckled.

"Complaining doesn't suit you, Yugito," he replied, flashing her a smile.

"Some of us aren't attuned to this abominable desert heat, thank you," Yugito replied. "Tell me again why the hell we are breaking OpSec by racing across the fucking desert in broad daylight with stealth thrown to the winds like this."

"A post close to Suna was overrun by an unknown force. The enemy massacred the units sent to retake it before they retreated. The council thinks Danzo's involved, but even if he isn't, they want the belligerents killed as an abject lesson to Sand's enemies. Teams of Suna nin are herding the bastards towards us and we're to execute them when they run into us."

"So why aren't we preparing an ambush?" she asked.

"Because our opponents are powerful and this sandy expanse isn't good ground for a drawn out battle. We'll be out of the dunes and into the badlands ten minutes from now and there are plenty of spots there to set up a good ambush."

"And this _powerful enemy_ is going to walk into a trap… Tell me, Kuribayashi, wouldn't the enemy know they're being herded in this direction for some reason? What if they do something else?"

"Each of the herding parties is more than fifty member strong. The enemy has no choice but to run towards us and we have you."

"Yes, we have me," she murmured with a frown in reply. She wasn't happy with the current situation at all. Her Suna compatriots seemed to think that just because she was a jinchuuriki, the outcome of any battle was written in stone. But she hosted only the Two Tail and if Konoha was involved somehow – and she thought Sand's council was right on that point – then there were all those rumors of Konoha's Nine Tail jinchuuriki to worry about…

xxxxx

"Contact," Hinata announced brusquely. "Two man party of scouts at 6 o'clock."

Naruto straightened in his seat, rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles.

"Well, it's time to rock and roll," he said cheekily, pulling a swig of water. "Sit back and enjoy the show, guys. You're going to see something special."

Kiba and Sasuke guffawed. Naruto grinned at the two and whispered a few instructions to one of his kage bunshin henged as a pebble on the command desk and dismissed it.

xxxxx

"Well, shit," the Suna scout cursed aloud. "Better call it in, Suk-won. We're going to have to dig these bastards out."

Suk-won nodded, lowering his telescope. The gutsy fuckers were making themselves at home on top of the hill. They even had a motherfucking tent raised to give them shade. He bristled. The least the assholes could do was act like their lives were in peril, which from the pedestal and other assorted accoutrements under their canopy, they were not.

"Let's hope they don't see us before the main force arrives," he muttered back in reply, "or we're all for it."

xxxxx

"Shit," Kuribayashi cursed and threw up his right hand in the air, signaling an impromptu halt.

"Problems?" Yugito asked.

"Yeah," he nodded, drawing out a map and spreading it on the ground as the other members of the team gathered around him. "The enemy has taken command of Toshinari hill and is apparently enjoying a siesta."

Yugito couldn't contain herself and burst into laughter.

The Suna liaison glared at her.

"Well, fuck if that don't take the cake," she shot at him with a shake of her head. Then, in a serious tone, "The enemy screws up your plans. That's why he is the enemy. Now, what are we going to do about it?"

"We set up our ambush while the other teams dig them out."

"How far are we from this hill? And do we have a positive ID?" Yugito asked.

"Thirty minutes. Thereabouts. And no, they're wearing masks, though there's a dog in their little clique. That's another probable indicator that Konoha's involved."

"Then forget the ambush. Let the others try to dig them out. If they do, well and good. We'll catch the enemy in the open when he's tired, beaten and running for his life. If they don't, we'll hit them just as they and your teams are running out of steam. They'll be exhausted defending their position - if they aren't overrun - and we'll make short work of them."

Kuribayashi looked at the others. They nodded.

"Sounds like a plan," he said, calling in their movement over the command channel.

xxxxx

"Well, look who's coming to the party," Naruto quipped jovially, standing up.

The main body of one of the flanking teams had finally shown up. It's leaders were assembling the men in preparation for an assault on their hill.

"Ain't that cute?" the blonde observed. There was only one area on that flank to assemble a reasonably large body men for an assault. He'd hoped that this particular group would show up first and prepared a surprise for them just in case.

Naruto flashed through a bunch of handseals and smiled at his friends.

"Bunshin daibakuha is an unforgiving bitch," he stated aloud.

xxxxx

The XO of the Suna group on the flank of the Konoha nin was in the middle of issuing a command when the world went mad with explosions. Earth, chunks of flesh and sundry items flew tried to reach stable Low Earth Orbits as a piece of hell dawned on the badlands of Kaze no Kuni. As the explosions died and the debris rained down, thirty nine Suna nin lay wounded and seventeen lay dead. Miraculously, three shinobi escaped the holocaust unscathed.

They survived for three seconds before being skewered by chidori wielding kage bunshin. The clones attacked from less than twenty yards – point blank range for chidori assassinations – and gave their victims no chance to defend themselves. The couple of walking wounded staggering around in disorientation and shell shock died in fiery explosions as more clones manifested themselves. Naruto was naturally inclined to execute the rest of the bastards as well, but with observers watching, he didn't want to expose Konoha to accusations of war crimes.

xxxxx

"Fuck," Suk-won cursed even as his teammate radioed in their comrades' fate to the other teams.

He wasn't surprised that there were survivors of the initial attack, but he'd never seen so many people killed in such a short span in his decade long experience as a ninja.

"You got that right. That was the chidori," his partner stated. The technique put paid to the question of the identity of the foreign shinobi. No one outside Konoha knew it. Then, in an angrier voice, "And those bastards are executing the wounded."

Suk-won cast a glance at his partner. It was a de facto law of war that clones did not accept surrenders. Ever. Anyone unlucky enough to find themselves in such a circumstance with a clone were executed for their troubles. But the animosity and the hatred the majority of Suna shinobi held for their Leaf counterparts had grown so much in the last three years that they were all too willing to believe the worst of the latter. The state of affairs wasn't entirely Suna's fault with Danzo's men accounting for their fair share with their brutality.

"I think it's that kid that did in Gaara during the chuunin exams three years back, Goro," he commented, hoping to derail his partner's rant.

Goro got a thoughtful look on his face. Finally, he nodded in assent, his face pale. Only a few Suna survivors of that attack were ever repatriated back to Sand, but the stadium had been stacked full of civilians that day and they'd all talked about it. Hell, that one fight had done as much to enhance Konoha's reputation as their infamous victory over Orochimaru that they'd become the hidden village of choice for civilian business magnates who wanted a little wet work done on their behalf.

"Shit, I think you're right. We'd better call this in. That bastard took out Gaara in one hit. I think we're about to get first row seats on how powerful he's grown in the last three years."

Suk-won nodded. The day just kept on getting better and better.

xxxxx

"What's the matter?" Yugito asked, sidling up to Kuribayashi as the look on the liaison's face turned grim.

"Just got word that one of the flanking teams got taken out."

"How did that happen? I thought they had orders to wait until they could link up with the others before launching an attack."

"They walked into a trap. Apparently, the ground they were assembling on was a giant trap rigged with exploding clones."

"Fuck. Any survivors?"

Kuribayashi shook his head. Then he held up a finger in a gesture of silence and pressed the thumb of his other hand against his earplug to hear better.

"We think we have a positive ID on at least one of the targets."

"Shoot."

"You remember that Uzumaki boy who defeated the Yondaime Kazekage's youngest during the ill-fated chuunin exams three years back."

"That kid?" Yugito asked. "I'd always wondered if things happened as that legend goes."

"We have multiple first hand accounts of that fight. And not just from Fire civilians who were encouraged by Konoha to spread the story. The nobles were particularly enthusiastic in their descriptions. And yes, that kid. They've already sent someone back to Suna to report this news."

"He's probably with his teammates then."

Kuribayashi nodded.

"One of them is an Uchiha," he observed.

"Then we really do have our task cut out for us. What are the other teams doing?"

"They're linking up beyond line of sight and are going to attack en masse."

"Have them wait for our signal. We'll scrape the previous plan, and hit the Leaf ninja from their rear while they're defending themselves against the combined assault."

xxxxx

"We'll be there in five minutes," Kuribayashi barked into his microphone. "Execute."

He nodded at his allies and continued at the present pace. There was no point in reaching the battlefield too early and out of breath. Such stupidity got your throat slit at the end of the day.

xxxxx

"Contact inbound from 5 o'clock. ETA three minutes. Strength upwards of a hundred," Hinata announced, downing a chakra pill to restore her reserves.

"Looks like this is the big one," Sakura muttered, sliding out of her seat.

Kiba had been tracking the scent of the jinchuuriki for close to five minutes now. It did not take a genius to figure out that their enemies planned to stagger their attacks so as to hit the Leaf ninja from the rear while the latter were decisively engaged defending their position from the assaulting Sand shinobi.

Naruto grunted and murmured another set of commands to a kage bunshin disguised as yet another pebble before dismissing it. Then, he turned to his teammates.

"You know your responsibilities. Try to stay alive."

"To victory," Sasuke enthused.

"And excellent booty thereafter," Kiba appended. Akamaru barked in agreement.

Everyone smiled at the Inuzuka scion's words. Naruto met their eyes and nodded.

"Let's do this."

xxxxx

Suk-won heard the order for general assault on his earplug and heaved a small sigh of relief. He and Goro'd managed to avoid detection so far, which meant they'd probably live to see sunset today.

"About time," Goro whispered. He was glad to hear the news as well. Anyone powerful enough to take out that demon Gaara when they were still only twelve years old wasn't someone he ever wanted to tangle with. Ever.

"Yeah," a youngish voice assented from their rear. "This infernal desert heat is unbelievable."

Goro jumped to the side as the threat registered, but Suk-won was already dead with a kunai through the back of his skull. Grateful to have evaded the killing strike aimed at his neck, he cursed his misfortune at being forced to take on the Konoha nin without support.

"And what are you trying to do?" his opponent asked, eyeing the ninjato in Goro's hand speculatively.

Goro opened his mouth to retort and sprayed blood. The chirping of birds filled the air all of a sudden and his last thoughts were to curse himself for forgetting to account for the fact that his enemy was a master of kage bunshin.

xxxxx

The charging Suna nin crested the last dune five hundred meters from Naruto's hill in a straight line, making liberal use of smoke bombs to hide their approach. But smoke was no hindrance to a byakugan user and Hinata rattled off their dispositions in a monotone voice. The first wave consisted of about fifteen teams of two shinobi working together with good separation between the teams. The equally strong second wave trailed the first by sixty yards. The rest of the Sand nin were nowhere in sight.

Naruto nodded at the sight. There was no point in throwing a hundred nin at six targets. Better to overwhelm them in waves using your numerical advantage ruthlessly.

Kiba whistled as Naruto drew a massive dose of the Kyuubi's chakra and formed two clones. At Kiba's signal, a line of kage bunshin two hundred yards from the charging Sand shinobi dropped their henge and in a pitiful demonstration of their lack of skill in archery, shot a staggered bunch of arrows aimed at the first wave into the air.

The first wave of the Suna nin sped up to get under the flight of arrows and the second wave slowed down just a mite for the same reason.

While the attention of the Suna nin were focused on the arrows, Naruto held his hand in front of him and formed a rasengan. He pumped all the chakra he'd borrowed from the kyuubi while his clones manipulated the swirling ball, adding fire and wind elements directed inwards to it. He'd practiced this technique plenty of times at the Frog mountain that it took only six seconds to push the massive quantity of chakra into the sphere. It took another second to exercise the control needed to shrink the ball and then he shot it at his enemies.

xxxxx

Chakra-sensitive nin among the Sand shinobi had already sensed the massive amount of chakra being gathered on the top of the hill and began to increase their separation. Whoever was manipulating the chakra wouldn't have more than a single chance to use such a powerful technique and while none of them had the chakra to block it, they meant to do everything in their power to reduce the casualties it'd inflict on them.

Problem was, Naruto's attack wasn't directed at their ranks. It shot over their heads almost faster than their eyes could track and hit the sand dune behind which lay hidden the rest of the Suna nin.

The blast was a flesh-searing pulse of heat that vaporized several dozen tons of desert sand. It was powerful enough to destroy the top half of the sand dune and knocked the seven members of the second wave closest to it senseless. A dozen more were thrown forcefully against the ground.

As the resultant mushroom cloud rose into the air and debris rained in a rough ovoid a thousand yards long along its semimajor axis, sixty-seven Suna nin who'd lain in wait behind the sand dune lay dead or dying. Many were torn to bits and burned to a crisp by hypersonic sand and plasma, but most were knocked senseless and buried, smothering to death under tons of sand with no hope of escape or rescue. The crack of explosion was the loudest noise the survivors had ever heard and the survivors of the reserve force were pounded hard enough that many of them were going to be worthless for the remainder of that battle.

xxxxx

"What the fuck was that?" Kuribayashi shouted as the loud crack of a distant explosion rang through the air. He looked at the sky in time to see a mushroom cloud scale the sparse clouds above.

Yugito stared at the cloud and whistled appreciatively. Whoever was behind that explosion had just expended a shitload of chakra on one massive attack that equaled the best the Nekomata could throw. It was probably that Uzumaki brat and hopefully, he'd shot his wad off with that stunt.

"I'm unable to get through to anyone on the command channel. I'm going to try the squad communications channel now," the Suna liaison announced.

"Sounds as if those bastards stuck their dicks into a meat-grinder. Damn, this sucks!" one of the others commented.

Yugito did not reply. She was a past master at big explosions and if that Uzumaki brat thought he was the biggest fish in the pond, she meant to teach him better.

xxxxx

The second flight of arrows was in mid air when the blast wave hit them. One hundred and thirty of the roughly two hundred kage bunshin disguised as arrows bought it in the fiery cataclysm and thirty more were wounded. The injured clones dismissed themselves and the survivors transformed back to their real selves and hit the ground rolling. The members of the first flight who were battle worthy joined them. Simultaneously, the wannabe archers dropped their bows - which were transformed kage bunshin as well - and launched a straight up mass charge at high speed.

Disoriented by the explosion and beset from the front and their rear or flanks by ninjato wielding suicidal clones, a dozen Suna nin went down under the press. Ten more stayed behind to engage the clones and the twenty-odd shinobi that broke through the wave of kage bunshin charged up the hill.

They were all that survived of the two waves. Some clones acting on their own initiative had already executed the Suna nin knocked flat by the explosion while others mounted that reckless counter-charge at the Sand shinobi.

The surviving assault force maintained fairly reasonable order for an unit that'd experienced the kind of casualties they had. They were less than steady at this point, but were motivated by hatred for Konoha and knew that all they had to do was hold their enemy's attention for a couple of minutes before their relieving force hit the Lead ninja from the rear.

But there was a problem. To cross the remaining two hundred yards of open land that stood between them and their objective at the top of the hill, they had to cover the impromptu mine field that Shino had rigged with exploding seals. And Shino's kikai bugs were like bees in the manner they thought nothing of sacrificing their lives to protect the hive – the hive being Shino, his clan and finally Konoha in this case.

A dozen explosions rocked the air within the space of three seconds. Only two Suna nin were hurt and killed by the blasts, but this was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

The Suna survivors had seen seventy percent of their strength reduced to well cooked morsels, witnessed more of their number buy the farm under a mass wave of suicidal clones, and seen ten of their comrades throw away their lives as a sacrificial rearguard so that the remainder could fulfill the mission. Well, their mission was to hold the attention of the Konoha nin on the top of the hill so that the composite team of their compatriots from Sand as well as their Kumo allies could hit the Leaf shinobi from the rear. They'd endured more than any sane man could to complete it, but their allies hadn't shown up and that promised attack from the rear had yet to materialize. There is only so much even the toughest veterans can bear and they were far past their limits.

And so, the surviving Suna nin turned tail and broke into a rout. In the end, none of them came any closer than fifty yards of their objective.

Naruto's clones weren't done, however, and they took after the fleeing shinobi.

xxxxx

"That's the end of that," Kiba said wonderingly, shaking his head.

They'd been outnumbered at better than thirty to one, but Naruto alone had been enough to stop the attack cold and beat back the attack. It'd surprise the hell out of Kiba if more than a hundred nin hadn't died in that attack. Which was one hell of a number. True, they'd had the advantage of the terrain and had fought behind prepared defenses, but the scale of the victory was simply staggering.

"Contact," Sasuke and Hinata announced simultaneously.

The announcement left Kiba chagrined. Naruto's lone battle against the Suna nin had been so engaging that the chuunin scout had forgotten that it was only a sideshow. True, if they'd been overrun in the assault, they would have ended up just as dead, but a jinchuuriki was on the main course and…

"Scram," Sasuke shouted in warning. He followed his own advice by shunshining away from the hill.

Naruto and Sakura knew their teammate well enough to follow his advice without question, but Kiba and Shino looked askance at Hinata. She did not reply, but her pallid face, the terrified look on her widened eyes and the fact that she executed a shunshin herself told them all they needed to know. Akamaru and Kiba stampeded down the hill away from the whatever was approaching them, and Shino shunshined away himself.

The world went white.

xxxxx

By the time the damned hill was in view, Yugito felt as if she was going to burst with all the chakra she'd drawn from the Two Tail. She'd also started transforming into the tailed beast, which was probably all that kept her from blowing sky high. So, she unleashed her attack the second she saw their objective. Then, she transformed fully into her jailed demon.

xxxxx

The Nekomata was a master of fire and the explosion from Yugito's attack easily rivaled the one Naruto'd thrown at his Suna assailants. Kiba, who was halfway down the hill, was picked up and thrown into the air. He landed hard and immediately lost consciousness from a broken and concussed head. It was a small mercy as a boulder weighing several hundred kilos bounced off his right hand a fraction of a second later. As the rain of debris stopped, Akamaru crawled to its master with two broken legs, numerous broken ribs and a broken tail, whining piteously. The dog licked its master, but the young chuunin was lost to the world in a coma.

"Fuck," Sasuke swore landing next to Naruto. He'd been prepared to fight an earth element using jinchuuriki against which his lightning would be effective and not a fire wielding one. "It's the Two Tail and it's using fire."

"No shit, Uke. You're buggered for sure," Naruto replied, forming clones. He was down to half his chakra, but he had plenty of fight left in him. And there were also the kyuubi or the Sage techniques to fall back on if the worst came to pass.

The Nekomata launched another huge ball of fire at their position and the two Konoha nin split.

"Team 8," Naruto keyed in his radio, "this is way over your heads. Try to stay alive and engage the rest of the jinchuuriki's team. Stay away from the Two Tail at all cost. Repeat, stay away from the Two Tail at all cost."

"We hear and comply," Shino's voice came back in reply. "Kiba's WIA and Hinata's stabilizing him. I'm moving to engage the enemy."

"Roger," the blonde replied. "Sasuke, Sakura, the Nekomata is all yours. I'll join in the party after I neutralize her support."

xxxxx

As Naruto left to take care of the _support_, Sasuke cursed his luck, dodging yet another ball of fire. He knew from confidential reports filed by survivors of close encounters of the Nekomata kind in the previous wars that the damn cat was a one trick pony like the Shukaku. It could throw fire, and lots of it – practically a wall, from what he was seeing – and it had the reflexes of a cat on steroids, but that was about it.

Simply put, the raven-haired sharingan user faced a fire-breathing cat monstrosity with a human intellect holding its reins. Problem from his end was that he was a lightning adept with fire as his second element. True, he knew tons of water element techniques, but he simply did not have the monstrous reserves to waste like Naruto and his water techniques were inefficient.

But this much was certain. He wasn't going to win this battle by being on the defensive.

"Where the fuck is that pink-haired wench when you need her?" he muttered as he immersed himself in his Seal of Power and darted in towards the Two Tail.

The beast nimbly jumped several hundred yards out of the way and threw a veritable storm of fireballs in his direction. Abandoning offense for the nonce, the Uchiha scion used a kawarimi to get the hell out of dodge and cut down an enemy nin who stood at arms length and who had his back turned to the sharingan user.

Another terrifyingly large ball of flame zeroed unerringly on his position and Sasuke obligingly used kawarimi to snag another nin into the path of the fireball and escaped death once more. He heaved a sigh of relief as Sakura finally announced her presence with a monstrous punch to the Nekomata's torso that sent the beast skittering against the ground. Then she disappeared in a crowd of bunshins that went scampering in every direction.

The giant cat yowled in pain as it regained its legs and opened its mouth wide in the direction where it thought its tormentor hidden. A huge ball of incandescent flame grew between its jaws, and friend and foe alike scampered aside as the tailed beast unleashed another monstrous explosion.

"Fuck," Sasuke muttered as he shunshined next to the beast. He charged his ninjato with chidori and used the lightning he'd guided over the blade to slice the cat's tendon in two.

The Nekomata howled again, but as Sasuke charged between its legs, he noted that the wound healed almost as fast as he made it. That was better than Naruto's healing ability and it did not bode well for his health in the short run. And true to his fears, the Two Tail jumped high into the air and breathed fire at his position again.

Sasuke shunshined out of the way of the cataclysmic wall of flames fractions of a second before it reached him. The air filled with the stench of hair and he patted the flames out. He'd almost lost his head there.

The Two Tail came down perfectly poised for a perfect ten-point landing and then, suddenly it was sailing up into the air with its head knocked back. Sakura landed hard on the ground and swatted at the nin who charged her with glowing hands. The man slumped dead, his aorta cut.

"What the fuck is Naruto doing? These bastards are everywhere," she complained.

Sasuke watched the beast fly away with an appreciative smile and chuckled at her comment.

"I'm sure he's doing his best. How many more shots have you got?" he asked. Sakura had learned from Tsunade the use of seals to store chakra and and using them to power the punches like she was to pummel the monster cat drained the reserves exceedingly fast.

"Five, maybe six punches. After that, I can give you ranged support with genjutsu, but that's it."

The giant cat had landed by this time and regained its bearings. It bounded at the two Konoha nin and they split in separate directions. Sakura used her bunshin once again to lose herself in the crowd before she shunshined out of the line of fire and used a henge on herself to transform into an ordinary looking rock. Sasuke broke left, then turned and counter-charged the Nekomata. Once again, he slid between its legs easily and used raikiri to carve it from sternum to cervix. The wound was fatal to any living being, but this was a tailed beast and it wasn't even phased.

Sasuke shunshined thrice as the beast went berserk once more.

"We should stop meeting like this," he told Sakura as the smoke and dust of explosions obscured the battlefield.

"That fucking cat is throwing explosions like crazy," Sakura groused, ignoring the comment as the ground shook from yet another huge explosion. "Doesn't the stupid bitch ever run out of juice?"

A pebble bounced off her head in reply and more dirt fell on them.

"Problem is we're not making an impression. We need to get at the jinchuuriki. Or you can try coldcocking the beast senseless," Sasuke suggested.

"Interesting idea. We'll try yours first. Where is the host inside all that flesh?"

Another fireball came flying in finally and Sasuke shunshined away, his sharingan blazing. He headed straight at the cat, scanning it with his eyes and shunshined away again. The Nekomata was once again fooled into focusing solely on him and paid dearly for its oversight as Sakura appeared at its side and punched its foreleg. The leg bent at an unnatural angle and the beast crashed down hard. Unfortunately, its fall put Sakura in line of its mouth as she ran away and the Two Tail spat another massive ball of fire at her. The flames engulfed the kunoichi before she could shunshin away and was thrown away by the explosion, a smoking wreck.

Sasuke saw his teammate's fate as he came charging in, his whole body shrouded in lightning. His face hardened a tad as he slammed into the Two Tail's chest and tore through the flesh to its precious cargo. He reached Yugito with plenty of energy to spare and rammed the gogyo fuin into her stomach. The beast vanished as its chakra supply failed and he collapsed next to Kumo jinchuuriki. Sakura was dead, but at least they had the Two Tail sealed.

The Uchiha scion sat there, unmindful of the goings on in the battlefield around him for he did not know how long.

"Hey, hero," a familiar voice broke him out of his despondency, "you defeated the Two Tail."

"But I'm sealing it," Naruto appended with a chuckle. "Get up, you lazy ass. We got work and Kiba needs medical attention."

Sasuke turned to his friends and stared.

"I thought you'd died," he told Sakura.

"I used up the last of my stored chakra, but I weathered the blast."

"How?" he asked.

"Used all of my reserves as a crude shield. Didn't think it'd work, but here I am, so I guess it did."

Sasuke smiled and rose to his feet. He dragged his pink-haired teammate into a great big hug, laughing all the while.

Naruto grinned and turned to Team 8.

"Ready?" he asked.

They nodded.

"Good," he said, "I'm sending Kiba and Akamaru directly to Konoha along with the jinchuuriki. Tsunade-sama will probably be able to help the former and the Godaime must have custody of the latter."

"Will he be okay?" Sasuke asked. "What happened?"

"He got caught in the first blast," Hinata replied. "He's hurt pretty bad."

The Uchiha scion nodded and turned to Naruto as the latter summoned the two toads Kosuke and Gama-chan.

"Kosuke, you're carrying the five of us to Danzo's camp," the blonde said, using ninjutsu to create a pool of water. "And don't give me any lip like last time about how you can't carry so many people."

"I won't," Kosuke replied obediently. He'd get his own back for being ordered around later.

"Gama-chan, please carry Kiba-kun and Akamaru to Konoha. They need urgent medical attention. Also, deliver this scroll to Godaime-sama. It contains the Two Tail jinchuuriki and I needn't stress the importance of this assignment."

Gama-chan nodded and departed with her precious cargo.

Naruto turned to Kosuke and shot a cheeky smile.

"Let's pay the venerable Danzo-sama a visit now, shall we?"

xxxxx

Koiso, the Kaze no Kuni diplomat, was being his usual hateful self and was in the middle of yet another diatribe when a smallish toad jumped out of the bowl of water placed in one corner of the room.

"What's that beast doing here?" he screeched, abandoning his rant midway.

Danzo waved away the guards who'd moved to assault the intruder and turned a benign gaze at the diplomat.

"I believe we're about to find out, Koiso-san," he said, watching the diplomat's reaction bemusedly as the toad regurgitated five of the vanished Konoha nin. He reflected mildly that they looked much the worse for wear and that the Inuzuka boy, his mutt and Shintani were missing. As the five nin saluted him, he nodded acknowledgement.

"It behooves a host to ensure sufficient privacy during diplomatic meetings with a representative of another state," Koiso needled. "Surely, Hi no Kuni is not so far gone into barbarianism that you've forgotten your manners, Brigadier Danzo?"

Danzo ignored the blithering fool and raised an eyebrow at the five nin before him. Scenarios ran through his mind as to what might have happened, but his mind came up empty in its quest for a possible explanation. There were simply too many solutions to guess with any reasonable degree of certainity.

"Our investigation is successfully concluded, Danzo-sama," Sakura reported.

"Oh? I see that liaison Shintani is not with you and that you're missing one of your members," he asked somberly. To the diplomat, he said, "These are the investigators appointed by Konoha to probe the murders of my men, Koiso-san."

"And what have they discovered?" the official asked querulously.

Sakura stepped forward with a smile.

"That Sunagakure is preparing to wage war with Konoha once again. This time under the orders of Kaze no Kuni from prima facie evidence," she accused. "Sand have enlisted Kumo's help in this regard and have been using Kumo nin to ambush patrols from Danzo-sama's command."

"Rubbish," the diplomat replied hotly. "You have no evidence to support your unfounded and ill-advised malicious accusations."

"On the contrary," Naruto stepped forward, unfurling a sealing scroll and releasing its contents, "we have captured Kumo and Suna nin who were working on that mission. You'll have to explain to your _neutral Kumo_ allies that Konoha has taken custody of the Nibi no Nekomata."

"Nibi no Nekomata?" the diplomat repeated slowly.

"Yes. Have fun explaining to Kumo how you lost the jinchuuriki they'd lent you."

Danzo smiled predatorially.

"I think this meeting's over and you suddenly have more pressing concerns, don't you, Koiso-san?

xxxxx

Author's notes:

Team 7 were trained by Jiraiya and Kakashi, advised by Tsunade and guided by Sarutobi. They are this powerful. They have to be to confront the likes of S-rank criminals and jinchuuriki, who are what they were to trained to kill or capture. I'm not sure if the Sasuke-Sakura-Two Tail battle is a good read or not. I hope it is, but I'm not sure how one should go about writing a battle with a manifested tailed beast. I hope you liked it.

I know the chapter's been delayed some, but the muse was being a bitch earlier. I was inspired today, however and wrote roughly 6.8k words (yeah, that's how bad the slump was before today.) I got out of it briefly a couple of weeks back, but then a TFF-er named Zeebee1 made a comment that I'm not sure was pointed at me or not. He said something about spelling mistakes and it motivated me to go back and correct the ones that I could spot. I'm sure there are more, but I've never been good with proofing my own chapters. Anyways, I guess what I mean to say is, I've edited all previous chapters. If you're so minded, do go back and read from the prologue to this chapter. There is only one big change, however, and it's on chapter 2 or 3. You have Pagan Thunderlord to thank for it. He pointed out a rather huge hole in the logic and I have corrected it.

Please leave reviews. ^_^


	22. A Train Wreck in the Making

The Best Laid Plans

Chapter 20: A Train Wreck in the Making

Arun

Disclaimer: A crooked smile!

Unproofed. Read at your own risk.

xxxxx

Kakashi thanked the toad summon for the scroll and offered her a bit of candy before she went on her away. Alone, he lifted the slime covered cylinder on his table once she'd vanished, mentally weighing it and tried to decide whether Naruto's _gift_ called for a grin or a frown.

News of the jinchuuriki of Nibi no Nekomata's capture was going to cause a lot of consternation in Kumo and would certainly strain relations between Wind and Lightning. But it'd also give them more reason to stay the course against Hi no Kuni. In the final analysis, this meant that Fire faced the same situation it'd invaded Tea to avoid – a war on two fronts.

But reading between the lines, the Fifth thought things weren't really that bad. While he had no formal report from his children, Kakashi could well imagine what must have happened for the Nibi no Nekomata to fall into Konoha's hands. Suna must have suffered a defeat somewhere in its deserts and while there was no telling the scale of Leaf's victory without further information, he was inclined to believe it pretty huge. And thanks to his team's efforts, instead of facing two jinchuuriki on two separate fronts now, Fire would face only one. That combined with Fire's naval advantage, the new volunteer regiments and the other assorted knickknacks meant that Hi no Kuni was very well off, indeed.

"And what should I do with you, my little pretty?" he asked rhetorically, flipping the scroll in the air. He'd seen pictures of Yugito, the Two Tail jinchuuriki, in the bingo book and he grinned gleefully at the thought of having her helpless in his arms. It was almost a dream come true, though it'd have been better if she'd been a lover rather than a prisoner.

xxxxx

"You want something, One?" the leader of the largest band of nin operating in Rice country asked the masked shinobi before him.

Konoha ANBU operative One was a messenger from the leader's Hi no Kuni allies. The conquest of Tea and the destruction of Oto three years back had sent all nations and hidden villages scampering to beef up their defenses as their world slowly ground towards a new era of war. It also left Rice a lawless power-vacuum as Leaf couldn't afford to maintain a large garrison with the demands Tea and Wind placed on its ninja corps.

Naturally, Rice became a covert battleground for Leaf, Cloud and Rock as the elemental nations maneuvered around each other for an advantage. The only reason Rice did not become a sparking point for a very open and very bloody free for all was because all three villages and their parent nations had found their freedom of action restricted in various ways. The biggest factor had been that none of the three concerned hidden villages had considered themselves ready for an intense campaign against the others. To Konoha's disadvantage, they were stretched with their nin engaged in counter-insurgency operations in Tea as well as extending their influence in Sand through Danzo's peacekeepers. To the detriment of Kumo and Iwa, they did not share a common border with Rice, but this was more than offset by a porous coastline. However, they had to fight an already entrenched Leaf within the late Orochimaru's fief that was small but powerful as well as a native population that was sympathetic to Fire. But all three players had plenty of money to throw around and sow mischief, however, though the safe bet had been on either Cloud or Rock with Konoha coming a distant third if only because the former could bring more mass to bear to the battlefield.

Fortunately for Hi no Kuni, they had Jiraiya to head the proxy war for most of the crucial first year and he'd managed his campaign adroitly. Initially, he allied Leaf with clans that'd fought Orochimaru and then, as ANBU anger against the traitor and his helpers wound down, the Toad Sannin had made it policy to recruit those who surrendered. He'd also recruited unbonded nin – a euphemism for missing nin used by the hidden villages for those they worked with – for the war.

The old samurai who'd replaced Jiraiya when the latter left command for reasons unknown hadn't been as skilled, but slowly, as in Tea, Fire gained the upper hand. Thanks to his hard work and the sacrifices of the men under his command, Rice was mostly peaceful these days. But the proxy war was far from over. If there was peace, it was simply because the opposing sides were catching a breather before the next war, which everyone knew was less than a year down the line.

"Momotaro-dono requested me to personally deliver this communiqué to you, Hanzaki-sama," One replied.

"Indeed?" the Fuuma clan leader frowned as he collected the proffered scroll. He'd talked to Momotaro the day before during the weekly meeting, where they'd covered at some length issues of operational and tactical note. The retired samurai had reassured Hanzaki that the news from Hi no Kuni was all good. So, what was in this scroll? "Thanks, One. You may go."

One nodded silently and disappeared.

Hanzaki opened the document and read its contents. Then, he sent for his second in command. They didn't have a year more to prepare for war, after all.

xxxxx

"I note that your report does not mention the fate of the Two Tail jinchuuriki, Haruno," Danzo asked mildly.

"We felt that the less people who are in that compartment, the better, Sir," Sakura replied primly.

The one-eyed cripple nodded gravely, acknowledging the young kunoichi's skillful sidestep. Danzo's good humor at the Wind diplomat's discomfiture had died an untimely death once he'd realized the jinchuuriki was not among the POWs brought in by Kakashi's little bastards. He'd almost lost his temper and ordered them tortured then – and weakened as some of them had been by their battle at that point, his men would have subdued them easily – but he'd managed to control himself. They'd certainly sent the Two Tail to their Godaime and there was nothing he could do to get it back.

Now, after listening to the pink-haired kunoichi deliver the mission report, Danzo was glad he hadn't acted rashly. To have won a victory of such magnitude as young as they were, why he wasn't sure if the Jiraiya-Orochimaru-Tsunade trio would have been able to pull something similar off at that age! Kakashi had created something remarkable with his students and if somehow, Danzo could suborn their loyalty to himself, his long term goals would come that much closer to fruition. And the more he about it, the more he realized that he even had the right set of tools for the job.

"All right, Haruno, you've given me a lot of information to digest. I'm going to have to think about the implications of this mission long and hard, but it seems clear to me that we have an unprecedented window of opportunity on our hand."

Sakura nodded silently, wondering when the old fool would get to the point. If he wanted to launch an offensive against Suna, why couldn't he come out and say it straight?

"You're dismissed. Feel free to goof off for the rest of the day within the confines of the fort. Inform Uchiha Sasuke that I want to meet him at my tent later in the evening."

Sakura stood up and saluted.

"Yes, Danzo-sama."

"Relax and get some rest. You've earned it and more after this mission."

xxxxx

The field hospice stank mildly of shit and rang with the groans of the sick, but for all that, it was surprisingly clean, thanks to the orderlies. The cause of the stink, the commandant of the Suna garrison was all too familiar with. There were forty very ill men under the massive tent and another hundred or so samurai outside who had the runs to varying degrees of severity.

"Report," the commandant ordered after inspecting the sick.

The senior doctor on duty scratched his chin. The man looked overworked, sleep-deprived, very ragged and his uniform looked scruffy, but he and his compatriots had done a great job saving as many people as they had. So, the commandant was willing to overlook the man's lapse of discipline for the present.

"The numbers of infected has come down for the second day in a row. Hopefully, we've got this thing beat and the trend will continue to improve."

"How many today?"

"Seven serious enough to admit and about forty more that are infected, but don't need to be admitted. We've got them all quarantined, of course. And four dead."

"That's one more dead than yesterday," the commandant pointed out with a grimace.

"Yes, but I think we've lost as many people as we're going to. Oh, we may lose a handful more before we eradicate this outbreak, but that's about it."

"Good. How soon can the sick return to duty?"

"The first one'll probably be fit day after tomorrow. But the number of unfit isn't going to come under 100 for at least a week."

The commandant nodded grimly. His men had followed sanitation procedure by the book for the most part. The only instruction in the damned manual they hadn't followed was to properly heat water or disinfect it with alcohol before drinking. Since he'd known from firsthand experience how unruly his soldiers were under the influence, he'd been unwilling to grant them access to booze. And their austere and rather limited supply chain couldn't bear enough wood for the required volume of potable water and still carry enough comestibles for the men to survive. Even still, for the runs to spread this fast through the garrison, it was certain that the water supply was compromised by saboteurs. And if the commandant ever got his hands on the guilty party, he would ensure the bastards were skinned alive and quartered for killing close to seventy samurai.

xxxxx

The watch stander at the messenger bird tower in Konoha enticed the newly arrived pigeon into her reach with an offer of grain. The bird drew ever closer, pecking one kernel after another until the watch stander's hands swooped down from behind to catch it by its neck.

"Sasaki-san," she called aloud, recognizing the breed of the bird, "One of the special pigeons just came in."

Sasaki, the middle-aged caretaker of Konoha's messenger birds emerged from his office with a frown on his face. The special pigeons – there was no name for the breed and in fact, they did not officially exist – were the product of Konoha's own experiments after the founding of the village. The objective was to create a breed of homing pigeons that could fly higher and faster than any other. The early results had all been failures, but Leaf had succeeded some forty years back and reaped the just rewards since.

"That'll be all. Return to your duty," the caretaker told the watch stander, collecting the bird.

"Yes, Sir."

Sasaki nodded and walked back to his office, wondering whether he wanted roasted pigeon or pigeon soup this evening and feeling glad that he wasn't an active shinobi any longer. No news that the _special pigeons_ had carried back to Konoha had ever been good, after all.

xxxxx

Kakashi looked the three golden pips nestled in the ANBU Intelligence Captain's hand and shook his head.

"Yet another confirmation?" he asked his ANBU adviser tiredly. It had been a long day and he'd been neck deep in paperwork and meetings. Why couldn't his Intel chief see that there was no need for more confirmation of Kumo's complicity in Suna's treachery. "I don't think we need any more confirmation that Suna and Kumo have got it in for us."

"This one's from Grass, Hokage-sama," the masked commander replied somberly.

Kakashi sat up straighter in his seat. Grass equated to Iwa and those bastards were tough customers.

"Grass? You sure this is correct?" he asked. Then, resignedly, "Of course, you are. You wouldn't be here if you weren't disturbed by this news."

"It was one of our sleeper agents in Grass that sent this, Sir. There are four more, but we've received no confirmation from the others. We're trying to obtain independent confirmation now."

Kakashi thought about it.

"We'll forward the message to the Daimyo, of course, but with the addendum that we haven't got independent confirmation on this one."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"What's the status of our units on the Grass border?"

"Weak," the ANBU commander replied. "Grass being one of our oldest and staunchest allies, we maintain several nominal garrisons on their border as you're no doubt aware."

"And they are garrison troops in the truest sense of the word, too. Even the shinobi complement," Kakashi appended, feeling less confident by the second.

"I'm afraid it's much worse, Sir."

"Oh?"

"We sent a communiqué two days back to move some of those troops to reinforce the garrisons on the border of Rain and River."

Kakashi groaned inwardly. This was exactly what a commander wanted to hear on the eve of a war: One of his flanks was unprotected and an enemy was about to spring a surprise attack to exploit his weakness on that front.

"Now I know why you hurried here with this message. How bad is it really on the border?"

"The forces are spread thin, Hokage-sama. The western highway and the provincial capital are well-defended and we can hold them against even a full-scale attack, but everything to the west of the highway is exposed and vulnerable."

Kakashi nodded grimly and turned to his aide. Fire had trusted its long time ally Kusa no Kuni to stand by its side in the coming war and all signals from the Grass court had implied such was certainly the case. Naturally, since Kusa's loyalty was assured and because Grass hadn't indicated any hostile moves on Iwa's part – and Konoha's spies within Earth hadn't indicated otherwise, either – Hi no Kuni's planners had assumed it was okay to order some of the troops stationed on the Grass border to the hot frontier with River, Ame and Taki. Now, they were going to pay for their mistake.

"Send for Jiraiya-sama. Tell him that I need his advice," he told the chuunin. To the ANBU commander, "We'll continue this meeting in another thirty minutes with Jiraiya-sama sitting in. In the meanwhile, see to it that the messages to the Daimyo as well as the garrison commanders are prepared. Most importantly, we need independent confirmation of Kusa's betrayal. Work to expedite that."

xxxxx

The Tsuchi no Kuni commander raised the teacup to his lips and took a sip. The green tea was scalding hot, which was just the way he preferred it.

"It goes good?" he asked his Grass counterpart.

The Grass polished off the last sushi and nodded.

"Surprise is almost complete. Fire has little or no idea that we're coming at them, Inouye-san."

Brigadier Kanao Inouye, commander of the four regiment strong taskforce sent to invade Fire, smiled pleasantly. It wasn't everyday that you were able to surprise your enemy thus. Konoha had managed it against Orochimaru during the Chuunin exams held in Leaf three years earlier and look what happened to the snake sannin.

"I concur," he acquiesced, "which brings us to what we're going to do about our advantage. The agreed upon time table is a week from now."

"You intend to advance it, Bridagier?" the liaison asked.

"Yes, I do. Tell me, how soon can your troops be ready to launch an attack?"

The Kusa Colonel thought it over for a couple of seconds.

"I can have them prepped for an assault by mid-morning tomorrow."

Inouye smiled.

"Let's not rush the men. Given their dispositions, the Fire pussies will need at least three days to concentrate before they dare challenge us on the open field. And that's once they learn about my men and I."

"They'd have learnt it from the farmers by now, which means we have plenty of time to organize our forces," the Kusa Colonel observed. "Dawn day after tomorrow sound good to you then?"

"Yes, I think it does."

xxxxx

Jounin Rensuke Isogai rose from his bow and handed the Daimyo of Kaze no Kuni the scroll delivered by the signals people. The ruler of Wind nodded curtly at his jounin guard – the only one visible of the dozen in his security detail – and unfurled the scroll expertly.

When he was done, the Daimyo laid the message beside him and turned to his guard. The communiqué had been sent by Koiso, who'd been informed by Danzo of the Two Tail jinchuuriki's capture and who'd also seen some of the captured Kumo and Suna shinobi. Danzo's sheer effrontery was galling and the Daimyo had just about enough of the cripple and his band of murdering troublemakers.

"Isagai-san."

"Yes, Lord."

"I want to send a message to Suna as well as the units hemming in Danzo and the feckless fiends of that madman. It must reach the concerned parties before nightfall, today."

"It'll be done, Lord."

The Daimyo thought about it.

"The message is simple. The cripple has declared war on Wind. Our forces are to rescue the hostages held at the old war-cripple's fort. Towards this end, they will attack the fort and take it. Tell them I want Danzo's head on a pike before the end of the week."

"Yes, Lord."

"Good."

xxxxx

It was so hot that there was scarcely anything alive on the desert floor, but for a few ants here and there. There was no wind and absolutely no humidity.

Presently, one of the ants scurrying along the desert surface met a sudden end as rubber-soled foot stepped on it. The ant passed away unremarked and unremembered as its nemesis took a minute off to crack his neck and spit on the ground.

"I hate this fucking desert," the man cursed.

The man's partner, the mercenary, glared at psychopath. The object of his ire appeared immune to his anger, which was normal behavior for the asshole.

"I mean, I get the whole fucking dead zone, devoid of all life and all that crap, but honestly, this sucks. There's simply no fucking thing to kill around here. How's a man supposed to worship his God when there aren't any fucking sacrifices around?"

"I'm getting tired of your constant complaints, Hidan," the mercenary replied through gritted teeth. He left unsaid his desire to rip out his companion's throat and stomp on his grave. That part was implicitly understood after yesterday when he'd tried and accomplished just that.

"Like a servant of the God could expect anything better from a godless heathen like you, you coin-counting whore," Hidan retorted.

The mercenary snorted, clamping down on the berserk fury that threatened to burst forth.

"Think what you will, Hidan," he warned, "but you're approaching the point where I grind you to paste and feed you as pig slop. We'll see how you enjoy your immortality as pig-shit."

The psychopath spat on the ground in reply. Like a heathen had any real hope of killing a True Disciple.

"What are we going to do, Kakuzu?" he asked. "We have been on station for more than a week now and if there's been a second patrol of those Konoha pussies in our general direction, it didn't come within a dozen miles of us. The fucking cowards!"

Kakuzu had been debating the same question himself. Since Hidan ran amok among the Leaf patrol and the heavily reinforced force came to retrieve the shredded corpses, there hadn't been any squads sent out on their flank as far as he could tell. This was bad given the unofficial bounty attached to the heads of each of Danzo's men in Wind, and because he and Hidan had been instructed by the Akatsuki leadership to weaken the war cripple, which they couldn't do if the latter avoided them.

"Well, I guess there's only one thing left to do. If they refuse to come to us, then we go to them."

xxxxx

"How are you, my poor baby?" Inuzuka Tsume asked.

Kiba grinned foggily at his mom. He's awakened from a drug-induced slumber only minutes earlier and wasn't thinking all that well.

"I'm feeling great, Mom," he slurred, "How's Akamaru?"

Tsume looked at the bandages that covered the amputated stump of Kiba's right hand and tried to mask her thoughts. She'd seen Kiba's canine companion earlier and Akamaru was even worse off.

"He's doing fine," she replied, faking a smile. She started to say more, but a masked ANBU interrupted her and asked her to wait outside the room. Kiba was a firsthand witness of the Two Tail's capture and Konoha wasn't about to take any chances of him blurting out that fact while under the influence of painkillers.

Tsume shot a look at her son and walked out before she burst into tears. The amputation was clean and the medics had promised they'd have her son fully healed before the end of the week, but Kiba's days as a frontline shinobi was over and with it went his dreams.

xxxxx

The shepherd was frightened, but then, he had good reason to be. He was in the middle of an army camp surrounded by armed soldiers and facing the commandant.

"You're serious?" the young fop of an officer asked disbelievingly for the seventh time. Major Toshiaki Mukai was a pleasant enough fellow and a very amicable one who was very popular with the ladies, but he was not officer grade material. Not by a long shot. His father was a moderately powerful nobleman in the Fire Damiyo's court and he'd received his command through patronage.

If the idiot had been one of his sons, the shepherd would have taken a belt to the imbecile's scrawny ass by this point. But with samurai around and the moron being the son of a noble, he was powerless.

"Yes, Lord. A combined Kusa and Tsuchi army is amassed near the border. My son-in-law heard Earth country samurai in the woods this side of the border when he was returning with firewood this morning."

"The poor bloody fool is frightened out of his wits," the Major told his adjutant, who was no intellectual heavy himself.

The XO nodded sanely. Mukai was right, of course. As he always was. The shepherd was probably a hysteric.

The shepherd shook his head. He'd come to the camp for the reward money he'd thought the samurai would give him and because as a patriot of Fire, he did not want the Earth country savages in the land of his ancestors. But his message was falling on deaf ears.

Well, so be it. It was the samurai's job to defend the land from invaders and if they couldn't be bothered to do it properly, then pox on them and their clans. The shepherd had his family to mind, and he and they would head to the nearest fortified city this very day. Hopefully, the garrison there would be more competent than these cretins.

xxxxx

"Well, it's time for me to meet _Danzo-sama_," Sasuke said with a bright grin as he stood up and stretched.

Naruto made a face.

"What do you think he wants with you?" Sakura asked.

The sharingan wielder shrugged.

"Don't know. Honestly, I'm more interested in how Kiba's faring."

"I'm sure he's doing fine," Naruto replied.

"Kiba-kun had nothing life threatening," Hinata added, "but I'm concerned about his hand."

Sakura put an arm around the Hyuuga heir. The pink-tressed kunoichi had examined Kiba herself before they sent him to Konoha and the bones in his hand had been crushed to powder. She didn't think even Tsunade or Kabuto could save it.

"Don't fret, Hinata," Shino consoled the girl. She'd spent a while crying for her teammate and his dog. "Kiba's a survivor."

"I'll be back soon," Sasuke, who looked distinctly uncomfortable, announced and left.

Naruto turned to Shino and raised an eyebrow.

"You want to play shogi or something? I'm bored."

xxxxx

The meeting had gone well so far. Danzo had struck to small talk so far, though Sasuke got the feeling that this was really an interview and he was being felt out for a possible alliance.

"Help yourself to another cup of tea," the old warhawk suggested, lifting the tea kettle to serve Sasuke himself.

"No, thank you," Sasuke replied, "I'm stuffed."

Danzo nodded and put away the kettle.

"So, tell me, are you satisfied with your position in Konoha?" he prodded.

Sasuke smiled indulgingly. It was an interview to see if he could be bought, after all. Normally, he'd have gone for Danzo's throat, but Kakashi-sensei had asked him to leave the old fool alive. So, he'd suffer the crippled, cane-wielding idiot's foibles.

"Very much so, to tell the truth. It's very exciting."

"And your personal life?"

"What's there not to have? My team is my family and I have great friends and teachers."

Danzo smiled sardonically at the reply. Family! What a laugh!

"Indeed? What then of revenge?"

The smile on Sasuke's face faded a bit.

"It'll come when in due time. The Uchiha will be avenged before the clan arises from the ashes once again."

"That's really too bad," Danzo stated.

"Oh?"

"Yes, it'd be such a shame to kill your brother."

Anger flashed in Sasuke's eyes now.

"Permission to speak freely, Danzo-sama," he said.

"This is a conversation between an officer of the Ninja Corps and a clan leader. You may feel free to speak as you will without fear."

The raven-haired Uchiha nodded curtly.

"Very well. If you value your life even a little you'll apologize for your ill-advised comment regarding the murderer or I'll call you out and strangle you with your entrails."

Danzo smiled.

"My apologies if I've hurt your sensibilities, Uchiha-dono. It is sad that you hate your only surviving kin so."

"Kin?" Sasuke ground coldly. "He murdered my parents. He massacred my relatives. He made me relive their deaths a thousand times as a child that night. I assure you, the crazed murderer is no kin of mine."

"Well, as you say, he murdered your parents. He massacred your relatives and for whatever reason, he made you relive their deaths a thousand times. But was he crazed or did he do it for a reason?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed further.

"What do you imply?"

"What if I told you that your brother is perhaps the greatest patriot of Fire country that's alive today?" Danzo asked in reply.

"He's a lunatic and a murderer," Sasuke replied, raising his voice a little.

"He's a patriot who executed your clan because they were plotting treason. He did so at the behest of the Third Hokage, one of the teachers you so love."

Sasuke's eyes turned pinwheels and he tensed ready to explode, drawing on his Seal of Power. The nerve the cripple must have to accuse his besmirch his clan honor, and to tarnish their good name and that of the Sandaime.

"Don't you want to know the truth of that terrible night, Uchiha? Listen to me and then decide whether you want to act rashly or not."

"You have two minutes," Sasuke said, calming down and releasing the heady power granted by the seal, but not his sharingan. "If you fail to convince me, your life is forfeit for treason against the Godaime by virtue of attempting to suborn his shinobi against him."

Danzo barked in laughter, waving his guards away.

"No tailed beast has ever attacked any village, Uchiha-dono, except the Nine Tails. Did you ever wonder why it attacked Konoha some fifteen years ago?" he asked.

Sasuke nodded assent. Yes, he'd wondered. Hell, Sakura had even asked Jiraiya-sensei the same question during their training. The sannin had not been able to answer her then and he did not have an answer for the old cripple now.

"Then consider this. The Kyuubi ignored the traps we set, the obstacles we built and the resistance we offered that day."

Sasuke scowled and did not reply. But his mind drifted to Sakura's discussion with Jiraiya on the subject.

"Tell me then, is it normal behavior for any sane animal to walk into danger when there is safety in another direction? Don't bother with an answer for it is obvious.

"But the Nine Tails did exactly that, Uchiha. This raised suspicions that it was being controlled. Now, there have been two methods of controlling the Kyuubi in written history and both relied on bloodlines. The Senju Mokuton and the Uchiha Sharingan to be precise. And the Mokuton never drove any tailed beast crazy. The evidence, you'll admit, pointed to the Uchiha."

Sasuke snorted.

"That's not evidence. It is conjecture at best and a flimsy one at that. Here's an alternate explanation. New bloodlines are born even today and maybe there's a new one that can control the Kyuubi? Or how about an even simpler one. The Kyuubi went mad. Animals in the wild do tend to do that, you know? And not just from rabies, either."

"True," Danzo conceded, "but your clan was murdered years later. And the story is only begun. Do you want to hear the rest of it or do you want to denounce me now and try your hand at assassinating me? If the latter, I promise that you will not succeed."

"Say your story, snake-charmer," Sasuke retorted coldly.

Danzo barked laughter again.

"There were suspicions against the Uchiha at very high levels after the Nine Tails was beaten. And they were very aware of it. Promotions and opportunities were denied them. Watchers were assigned to the clan compound. The powers of the Uchiha police were curtailed. The clan prodigy, your brother Itachi, was weaned away from the elders and into Sarutobi's fold. The feelers your clan sent to make peace were denied. There was to be no compromise.

"What else was your clan to do in such a situation? What else could they do? The Sandaime forced them to plot revolt and so they did. And when their _plot_ was discovered, Itachi was ordered to carry out an execution. He was to sacrifice his honor and your clans so that the Third could rid himself of one of the major political blocs in Konoha.

"This is what happened, Uchiha-dono, and this is the true face of your masters."

A frown marred Sasuke's face.

"Such an order wouldn't have been written. How is it you know, _Danzo-sama_?" he asked. Clearly, the cripple was hiding something. But what was it? Sasuke did not doubt that there was some truth in the story, but he needed to know how much was fact and how much fiction?

"When Sarutobi, Homura and Koharu plotted your clan's death, I was the only one to speak against it. The Uchiha had served the village loyally for too long for their loyalty to be rewarded with treachery, but their decision was made and I could not sway them."

Sasuke snorted.

"Yes, woe be you," he said, turning to leave. He had much to ponder and he could best do it in the company of his family. For one, what should he do if Danzo was telling the truth? What would Naruto and Sakura do for that matter? Should he forgive Itachi? Should they leave Konoha? What should he do?

"Wait, Uchiha-dono."

Sasuke turned.

"You'll understand that if Konoha learns you know the truth about your clan, your life is forfeit, don't you?" Danzo asked.

"Of course."

"Good, then. I hope you'll consider what you've learned today and make the right decision as to whether you want to serve the murderers of your family or avenge your clan's deaths."

"Yes."

After Sasuke left, Danzo motioned to one of his guards.

"Keep an eye on that one. If he takes a false step, poison all five of them."

xxxxx

Author's notes:

Please leave reviews.

Well, that last act was perhaps the hardest conversation yet. I hope it was believable. If not, feel free to point out what isn't and I'll do my best to correct it. But bet you thousand to one that no one expected Danzo to try to suborn Sasuke this way! ^_^

As for the overall plot, for those of you who thought that everything was going hi no Kuni's way up to this point, this chapter must be a rude shock. Iwa has achieved strategic and tactical surprise. And Fire's forces are not positioned to thwart them. That's can't be good, can it? LOL

Last, I thought that someone would comment about me using Seal of Power instead of Cursed Seal in the last chapter, but no one did. Oh, well. Saves me some explaining, but happy to know you guys understood the reasons without my explicitly stating them.

Keep reading!


	23. Not a Chapter again

Another Non Chapter. Someone asked me to add the not replace the preview but to add a new chapter. I think I should stop giving out previews because this can get real ugly real fast. LOL


	24. War & The Uchiha Tragedy

The Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 21: War & The Uchiha Tragedy

Disclaimer: Feckless.

Er, someone asked me to add the real chapter as a new chapter so could review...

xxxxx

Sasuke tried to shake the feeling that he was missing something obvious as he stalked back to his teammates. His eyes glinted anger at Danzo's insinuations, but he could not deny that the old cripple's argument sounded reasonable to his ears. The idea that Itachi wasn't a crazed murdering bastard certainly had its own undeniable appeal, even though it made him feel green at the gills. If Itachi was a patriot, then Sasuke's life had no meaning because he'd built his life around the vow he'd taken to avenge his clan's pointless murder…

And what of his friends and teachers? For the last two years, old man Sarutobi had been like the grandfather he'd never had, training and nurturing Sasuke and the other two members of Team 7 as they grew into young adulthood. Could that kind oldster have ordered the murder of the Uchiha clan as Danzo accused? What of their teacher, the current Hokage Hatake Kakashi? Did he know of the betrayal of the Uchiha clan as well? And Jiraiya? Was his whole life a lie and his friends and family really his sworn enemies hiding behind a veil of kindness and concern?

It took a moment to realize where his thoughts were heading and Sasuke shook himself out of it. After a fashion, he could bring himself to believe that Itachi was a patriot, because he could still recall the gentle elder brother who'd showered him with love before the massacre. He would still kill his elder brother, of course, for the sullied honor of the clan, if nothing else, but he could forgive his brother in his heart of hearts if he were no longer a monster.

But it didn't feel right that the bonds he'd cultivated since then with his friends, teachers and family were lies. Certainly, Naruto and Sakura were as close to Sasuke as Itachi or his parents ever were. And they'd shown him nothing but companionship and love. The same could be said of Kakashi, Shikamaru and the others. If Konoha had ruthlessly ordered the murder of his clan, the same village had also given him love, purpose and direction in life. The last two, Sasuke had received from Itachi on that fateful night as well, but he'd realized long since that their pursuit would have led him down a path of no return and truly destroyed the Uchiha clan. This way, the way he'd been taught by his friends, was better and like a phoenix returned from the ashes, it led to the rebirth of the Uchiha clan and something resembling normalcy in his life…

All that reasoning mattered for naught in the final analysis, however. Sasuke was driven by an uncontrollable desire to know the truth and as he opened the tent flap, he knew he was committed to a mistake that was probably going to earn him some broken bones and Sakura's _tender ministrations_ at the very least. At the worst…

"Naruto, forgive me," he whispered as the tent flap fell back into position behind him and the blonde's blue eyes made contact with the spinning crimson irises of his doujutsu. Sasuke was transported into Naruto's mindscape and he found himself facing the Kyuubi in its massive cage with his friend and brother beside him. The beast looked even less pleased than usual to see the blonde once it recognized his companion.

xxxxx

Sarutobi was in the middle of some routine paperwork when the toad emerged from the trough placed in a corner of the room for that very purpose. Knowing that he had a few more seconds left, the retired Hokage speed-read the executive summary of the next document on the pile and penned his signature. Then, he carefully set down his brush and addressed his guest.

"I wish I could say that your arrival is unexpected, Jiraiya."

The Sannin goggled.

"You've already heard of the Tsuchi invasion force, Sensei?" he asked his aged teacher.

It was Sarutobi's turn to be surprised.

"Tsuchi no Kuni? Do tell. I'd thought you'd drop by to discuss the Wind and Lightning alliance."

"Well, throw in Earth and Grass into the mix as well."

"The combined might of four elemental nations against Hi no Kuni. The situation is dire."

"It's even worse than you think, Sensei. The officer in charge of the Grass border is Toshigaki's son, that incompetent bumbler Mukai."

Sarutobi knew of the officer in question. Mukai was a political appointee whose father, the Lord Toshigaki had bought him a commission as an officer in the Hi no Kuni army. It hadn't taken much time for Mukai's superiors to realize they had an idiot on their hands. However, the Lord Toshigaki had paid a lot of money to ensure his son was made an officer of the line and called in a lot of political favors he'd carefully accumulated over the years for this very purpose. So, the Hi no Kuni general staff followed tradition and sent him to the quietest border, that being Grass.

"That is bad," Sarutobi observed with a grimace. He could guess how badly Mukai had managed to screw up the situation on the ground.

"The situation on the Grass border is dire. The invasion is imminent and the regular army units are badly out of position. Our Nin units are stretched and the enemy has a clear and unopposed route to the hinterland of Hi no Kuni."

"In other words, we have exposed our jugular," Sarutobi nodded grimly. "I suppose the Godaime put you in charge of defending the Grass border."

"Yes, which is why I came to you. I need Anko and her unit."

"I've dispatched them to Rice already to reinforce Hanzaki's troops to defend the Kumo front."

"Hanzaki will have to make do with the resources he has in hand, Sensei. He can certainly hold on for a week or two. We don't have that luxury on the Grass border. We need heavy hitters there and we need them now."

"Yes, yes, I understand," Sarutobi replied, picking up his brush and pulling out a fresh parchment. "But I can't leave the Kumo border as is. By all accounts, the Raikage's younger brother has absolute control of the Hachibi and we need some heavy hitters to keep him and his Storms occupied."

"Iwa's got two berserk jinchuuriki on their hands and they're going to be deployed against Mukai," Jiraiya pointed out evenly as Sarutobi frowned in thought.

"Tell you what," the retired Sandaime said after a while, "I'll ask Anko-chan to loan you two companies of her unit. She'll be left with the remaining two companies. I hope the Godaime's promised reinforcements on the Grass border because I'll be sending whatever I can scrounge to Rice."

"I suppose that'll have to do. Now, I don't suppose you have any idea where Anko and her unit are at this moment?"

"Check at the depots between here and the Rice border. I'd start at the halfway mark, if I were you," Sarutobi replied, handing his orders to Jiraiya.

"Good. Thanks, Sensei."

xxxxx

"Lord, the ambassador from Kumo craves the boon of an audience with the Daimyo," the gofer informed the chamberlain of Kaze of Kuni.

The chamberlain scrunched his face. He could guess why the ambassador would want to meet with him. With the Nibi no Nekomata captured, there was a tremendous loss of face and Wind needed a victory against Danzo before the Daimyo faced the worthy. And the Daimyo had provided very clear instructions on what he was to do when Kumo's emissary approached the court with this request.

"Tell him the Daimyo is currently indisposed and will meet him at the earliest."

xxxxx

Sasuke and Naruto appeared inside the latter's mind and an instant later, the blonde's fists crashed into the former's face with the force of a wrecking ball.

Sasuke spun into the air and splashed back down. He lay clutching his jaws as Naruto glared down at him.

"Sasuke, when this mission is over, I'm gonna rip you apart for what you did just now," Naruto growled angrily.

"Okay," Sasuke said, sounding resigned to his fate. He's known the consequences of his actions before he acted.

Naruto's eyes narrowed.

"Is that all you got to say, asshole?"

"I'm sorry, Naruto, but I had to confirm something and the Kyuubi can give me the answers I seek."

"You could have asked," Naruto growled. "You didn't have to sharingan into my mind without permission like that."

"I'm truly sorry, Naruto."

"No, you aren't. Not right now. But after this mission, you'll be sorry, all right. Sorry that you ever violated my mind like that." Sasuke looked as contrite as the blonde had ever seen him, but if he thought it was going to get him out of what he had coming, he was wrong.

Sasuke did not say anything in reply.

Naruto snorted in disgust.

"Let's get this over with. What do you want?"

"Kyuubi."

"Then, Kyuubi, you'll meet," Naruto spoke with a tone of finality.

An instant later, the two teens winked out and appeared at another corner of the maze of tunnels that was both Naruto's chakra system and mindscape.

"Pitiful worm," the Kyuubi growled as soon as it espied Naruto and Sasuke before its cage, "you dare approach me bearing your accursed eyes."

The Kyuubi did not like Sasuke much. In fact, it hated him more than it hated Naruto or the Yondaime, which was saying something. Its chakra began to push against and out of the cage to poison the teen even as the beast struggled to escape its prison and grind Sasuke to dust.

Sasuke's Sharingan spun fast and bore into the Kyuubi's eyes. Entranced, it held his gaze for a few seconds and its chakra flowed back into the cage. Finally, the beast's struggles ceased altogether. Its docile behavior amazed Naruto, even though he'd seen Sasuke do this several times during training in the last two years.

"Tell me why you attacked Hi no Kuni, Kyuubi," Sasuke asked, maintaining eye contact.

"One from your accursed clan, the one whose chakra is even more vile than mine, the one whose eyes are as powerful as yours made me," the tailed beast replied in metronome.

Naruto startled at the admission. No wonder Sasuke had acted so with his Sharingan.

"Uchiha Madara?" the raven-haired boy asked, ignoring his teammate for the nonce. If he took his eyes away now, the Kyuubi would be even more of a bitch than it usually was. And as far as he knew, he was the only Uchiha beside Madara who'd ever been able to control the Kyuubi in any manner.

Even caught in the Sharingan's spell, the Kyuubi growled at hearing the name of Sasuke's ancestor.

Sasuke nodded and deactivated his doujutsu. That was all the confirmation he needed. Now, to verify what old man Sarutobi knew.

xxxxx

Naruto staggered as Sasuke dropped out of his mind. He knew from experience that only a few seconds had passed since his friend dragged them both to meet the nine tail, which made the event all the more disorienting.

Sakura looked concerned and started towards him, but Naruto shooed her away. He flashed the hand sign for security and she nodded. The seals she'd placed on the room as soon as she saw Sasuke catch the blonde with his doujutsu would take another ten minutes to break by a seal master.

Naruto nodded at her and turned his attention to the matter at hand.

"It's gotta be a lie, Sasuke," he said as Sakura, Hinata and Shino watched in interest from the sidelines.

"I don't think so," Sasuke retorted.

"He died more than half a century ago at the Battle of Valley of the End," Naruto replied.

"There haven't been more than a handful of people in the history of the Elemental nations, myself included, who could control the Kyuubi, Naruto."

"He's dead, Sasuke. You can't control the Nine Tails from the spirit realm."

"What if he isn't? His body was never recovered," the raven-haired boy retorted.

"What are you guys talking about?" Sakura interjected herself into the conversation finally, speaking, she knew, for both Shino and Hinata both. The Battle of Valley of the End? Kyuubi? What was going on with the boys?

"Later, Sakura. I promise I'll tell you as soon as I myself find out what's going on," Naruto replied.

The pink-tressed kunoichi turned to her other teammate.

"Sasuke?"

Sasuke ignored her, focusing his attention on his other teammate.

"I have to meet Sarutobi-sensei. Take me there."

Naruto shook his head.

"You're being a stubborn and idiotic SOB today," he muttered as he formed two clones as decoys. To Sakura, he said, "He won't answer you, Sakura. The idiot's gone crazy on us. Hold the fort while we're gone and make as if the two of us are already here. I'll send a toad ahead before we return so that you can get the security arrangements back in place."

"How long will you be gone?" she asked.

Naruto cast a glance at the agitated Sasuke.

"Not too long. This is a fool's errand if there ever was one," he replied, summoning Kosuke for the journey.

"Hey, Boss, need me already?" the toad asked.

"Yep. I need you to take Sasuke and I to Sarutobi's place in Tea."

Kensuke whistled.

"That's some way off, Boss. I need a bigger bonus."

"I'll get you grasshoppers roasted to a crisp and dipped in chocolate."

Kensuke drooled at the offer. The boss must really want this favor to offer such a succulent treat! But Kensuke wasn't a born yesterday tadpole.

"How much?"

"A handful and not a grasshopper more. And only after I return to the village."

"Sasuke-san's hands. Not yours. They're too small."

Naruto grumbled but nodded. Knowing Sasuke as he did, the bastard wouldn't even lift a finger when it came to catch and fry the stupid insects. He'd have to pay for a D-rank to get the little critters.

"Hop on board, Boss," Kensuke enthused, pulling both the blonde and his teammate into his mouth for the ride to Tea.

xxxxx

His teammates watched Juugo with a mix of disbelief and humor as he mooned another villager. The man shook his head in disgust, cursed drunks in general and walked away with his eyes averted.

"How many does that make?" Karin asked aloud as the guffaws died down.

"That's the seventh one," someone piped. "But the reaction of that matron was a sight for sore eyes."

Karin shook her head wryly.

"The bastard's fucking crazy," she guffawed as Juugo did something else insane.

"Watch this, Karin," Juugo announced loudly just before he projectile puked into the middle of the street.

"He can't handle his liquor, but at least he's a happy drunk," Anko commented cheerfully from her seat. "Anyways, the ass is going to have a terrible time marching tomorrow morning."

"We'll probably have to toss him on one of the wagons, the idiot," Karin agreed.

Anko stood up and motioning Karin to follow her, retired to a quieter corner of the bar. Karin left the revelry behind quietly and followed her commanding officer.

"You haven't shared your thoughts about our orders," Anko observed once they were out of earshot. "And I know the look on your face. Do you have any reservations about them."

Karin shook her head. It wasn't going back to Rice country that she minded. Some of the other survivors did, but she did not. No, but the thought of Rice did bring back memories of Kimimaro, and how she and Kabuto had killed him with Jiraiya's consent after they surrendered to Konoha three years back. The bone-wielder had been entirely too loyal to Orochimaru that it served the best interest of his comrades and Konoha to have him pass quietly into the night. Once Kabuto convinced Jiraiya of that fact, the Sannin had looked the other way as they committed the deed. With that murder, Kabuto had secured his place in Konoha's research division and she had saved the life of the surviving cursed seal bearers who'd depended on her.

To say the truth, she wasn't bothered by the memory of the coldblooded killing. Kimimaro's death had opened her to a world of friendship and opportunity. Juugo was her best friend now and the sky was the limit within Konoha's Ninja Corps so long as he worked diligently and was loyal to the village. So, no, she did not mind killing the last Kaguya at all.

"No, if anything, I'm ambivalent about our orders."

"Obviously something is troubling you," Anko pointed out, "what is it?"

Anko, her present commander, did not know of Karin's last act of treachery committed after the surrender and Karin had long since decided she would take the truth of what happened to Kimimaro to the grave. So, she redirected her superior's thoughts on a harmless path.

"Orphans though most of us were, I've been thinking about how gullible we must have been that Orochimaru was able to suborn us to his cause so easily, Major."

Anko nodded. She understood exactly what the red-haired NCO was talking about, having been caught in the mad man's influence at one time herself.

"He always had a way with words."

"That he did," Karin agreed. "Anyways, I'm glad he's dead."

"No one misses him for sure and certain," Anko replied with a smile. She herself remembered when the Godaime, Jiraiya and Sarutobi approached her to take command of misguided kids who'd suffered at Orochimaru's hands as she had. She'd been only too happy to oblige, and she'd slowly molded the original survivors and other newly created bearers of the Seals of Power into a loyal battalion of Konoha nin with help from both the head shrinkers and the research division.

"Very true," Karin acquiesced again. Then, noting one of her people on watch duty approach, "Yes, Hiro?"

"Jiraiya-sama's here to see the Major, Sergeant," Hiro replied.

"The old perv?" Anko wondered aloud. "What's he doing here?"

"I wouldn't know, Major."

Anko nodded.

"Well, you'd better see to escorting him here, hadn't you, Hiro?"

Without snapping a salute – they were on the field and Anko was no idiot to demand her personnel salute her in public and identify her for assassins – Hiro turned on his heels towards the nearest exit of the bar, but his actions were moot. Jiraiya had followed him into the bar and now introduced himself.

"No need, Son. I'll take it from here," the Sannin said.

Hiro turned to Anko for further instructions. She dismissed him with a curt nod and he left.

"Jiraiya-sama," she greeted the Sannin, "what brings you to our little corner of the woods."

Jiraiya produced a scroll from nowhere and handed it to her. He waited patiently as the Anko read it and turned it over to Karin.

"You put me in a difficult position," the Major confessed, "I need every hand I can get. The Hachibi is a monster."

Jiraiya shrugged serenely. Orders are orders and…

"We have a new front opening along the Grass border with an invasion imminent and we need the forces, Anko."

"Don't see how my people can help there. We're days away from Grass. If that border's undefended, we'd be better off pulling forces closer to the action to defend it."

"Someone else is doing that," Jiraiya replied. "As for why your unit, there are three reasons. One, your unit is cohesive. Two, they have the necessary firepower. And three, I can transport them to the front much faster than you realize."

"I do not want to know how you're doing to do it, do I?"

"Nope. Need to know and all that."

"What I figured. Karin, see to it that Jiraiya-sama gets our two best companies."

xxxxx

As Jiraiya and Karin walked away, he just had to ask the red-haired kunoichi one question.

"I'm going to get your two least strength companies, aren't I?"

Karin flashed him a bright smile.

"Yep."

The Sannin sighed.

"What I thought."

xxxxx

"Aren't you two supposed to be in Kaze no Kuni right now?" Sarutobi asked, eyeing the two boys standing before him with a stern expression.

Naruto shot a glare at Sasuke.

"We are, Sensei."

"Then what are you doing here so far from your Area of Operations?" the retired Hokage asked pointedly.

"I had a meeting with Danzo and I learnt a few things that brought me here, Sensei," Sasuke replied.

Sarutobi nodded thoughtfully.

"Tell me what happened during the meeting."

Sasuke narrated his tale including what he'd done to Naruto. Sarutobi listened silently through the whole narration and frowned his disapproval when Sasuke got to the part where he'd invaded Naruto's mind without his permission to confront Kyuubi.

"And you suspect that we lied to you," he asked at the end.

Sasuke shook his head but looked unsure.

"No, I don't…"

"Go on, spit it out," Sarutobi urged, seeing the teen hesitate.

"Well, either my family were innocent victims murdered by a madmen or they were traitors. If the former, Sensei, I'll honor them and hunt my brother down like a mad dog. If the latter, they are traitors. Incompetent ones at that and they deserved what they got."

Sarutobi nodded.

"Thing is, if they are traitors, then like Danzo said, my brother's a patriot and he's been dealt a shitty hand at life."

"And you're curious about your brother because even after what he did to you, you love him just as you hate him."

Sasuke nodded.

"Very well. Sit, this is going to take a while," Sarutobi murmured. "I'd rather that I never had to tell you or anyone else who wasn't in the compartment, but I'd also rather not have you go out snooping about one of Konoha's darkest secrets on your own volition. It's liable to get you and your team killed. So, as owner of the compartment, I'll grant you access. Remember that the knowledge of the incident is Deep Purple coded, the highest level of classification for state and military secrets. What I tell you will not make it outside Team 7. I would say outside this room and ask Naruto to step out, but I know you'll share the details of our conversation on this subject with him and Sakura anyways trapped as you are in Danzo's camp. And I'd rather not have the three of you executed for that offense. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Sensei," the boys echoed.

"Good. Itachi is a patriot of the highest caliber. The boy would have made a good successor for me if your clan's business hadn't ruined his life. You see, relations between your clan and the village had always been strained since Uchiha Madara went rogue and tried to get the whole clan to revolt. Why, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that relations were none too civil right from the founding of the village.

"You see, when Senju Hashirama convinced Uchiha Madara to join their clans together to build the first hidden village, something never before seen in the annals of the Elemental nations, the latter agreed thinking that he'd be the first among equals. Too bad for him that Hashirama thought along the same lines himself and unlike Madara, the Shodai had favorably viewed by many of the clans as well as the reigning Daimyo of Hi no Kuni. So, instead of being appointed leader of this new village, your ancestor found himself a subject in it. A powerful one but a subject nonetheless.

"Over the next few years, the egos of the two founding fathers clashed more and more often. The Shodai wanted to integrate the Uchiha into the village and most of the clan were willing, but Madara was adamant that the clan remain separate. The Shodai could not be swayed from this goal and it's widely held in scholarly circles that Madara could not reconcile himself to being the servant of a man whom he considered his equal. Furthermore, the two of them could not agree on the fate of the bijuu. Between Hashirama and Madara, Konoha controlled all the tailed beasts. Madara wanted Konoha to hold them all to ensure our lasting supremacy, but the Shodai gave them away to the other villages in the interest of forging a lasting peace between the nations.

"Tensions between the two rose to the point that Madara became convinced that the village was no longer a good idea. But his arguments for independence lost against the promise of peace the Shodai gave his clansmen. They wanted an end to the endless conflict that had afflicted the world of Ninja and they believed Madara offered them a return to those dark times. At this point, in one of history's great ironies, the Shodai offered the Uchiha clan the right to live apart from the village, which had been the cause of his falling out with Madara, to preserve the peace. Unfortunately, the gulf between the two founding fathers had grown too much and with his clan turning their back on him, Madara refused a compromise and went rogue.

"What followed was the Battle of Valley of the End at the conclusion of which the histories would have us believe the Shodai killed Madara. But apparently, if you're tale is to be believed, he's alive.

"Now, initially, the rest of the clans were okay with the Uchiha being treated as the first among equals, but slowly, as the village prospered and grew ever more powerful, voices of dissent arose from the ranks and file of the nin corps as well as the various clans. This strained relations between the village and your clan again, but not too much because the complaints were always few in number.

"And then came the Kyuubi. Konoha was weakened by its attack. The Uchiha survived intact for the most part and fearing for their security, the other clans wanted to weave them tightly into the fabric of the village. With a large number of backers for integration, the movement gained strength in official circles. Of course, your clan saw this as stepping on their traditional rights and resented the calls.

"In this climate, there was also the fear that the Kyuubi was directed at Konoha for the same reasons Danzo'd stated in your conversation. So, when your clan argued vociferously against integrating into the village, the other clans began to think that perhaps there was credence to those unfound suspicions about the Kyuubi's attack, after all. As time passed, relations continued to fray, though as far as we have ever been able to verify, only the Uchiha had plans for taking up arms.

"In this milieu, Fugaku, your father, sent Itachi to infiltrate ANBU as an informer, even though Itachi opposed plans for armed rebellion against the village. Itachi did not come to us until the very last stages of your father's plot. If he had, perhaps I could have talked to Fugaku and made him see reason. But at that point, when Itachi reported to us after realizing your clan was committed to arms and could not be swayed, it was too late.

"We did not have the forces to fight your clan and then, defend ourselves against the carrion eaters from Kumo or Iwa who'd have descended upon us sensing weakness in the aftermath. I was the only one in the Ruling Four who thought that a compromise was still possible, but the other three within the village and the Daimyo outvoted me.

"The decision was taken to execute your clan with a first strike and your brother volunteered for it, though the decision must have cost him dearly. He did it out of a sense of honor – it behooved upon him as the heir to deal with his errant relatives and reclaim lost face and honor – as well as to save the village. It would have sown a climate of fear and distrust amongst the other clans over their own fate if it ever came to light that Konoha ordered the execution of the Uchiha. Such an environment would have destroyed the village in the long run, of course and we wanted to avoid it at all costs. With this goal in mind, Itachi volunteered to fake madness so that suspicion would never fall on the council and on me.

"On that fateful night, Sasuke, he was under orders to kill everything inside your clan compound, down to the cats and dogs. Itachi followed that order to a tee but for a single lapse. He spared you. And before he fled the walls of the village, he sought one last audience with me and asked me to not let the actions of your people cloud my opinion of you and to protect you. He was very particular on the last point, in fact, going so far as to threaten the lives of the other three members of the Ruling Four with their lives should an unfortunate accident befall you. What more proof do you require that your brother loved you dearly?

"Of course, I'd be the first to admit that he had a strange way of showing his love. We never understood why he tortured you the way he did. You'd have hunted him down anyway to redeem the clan's honor at falling victim to a single assassin without him ever resorting to that crude technique. That's one of two mysteries about that day, anyways."

"Thank you for your explanation, Sarutobi-sensei. I'm deeply in your debt," Sasuke replied solemnly.

Sarutobi nodded.

"Now, what's this about Madara and the Kyuubi? Are you telling me that our suspicions about the Nine Tail's motivations weren't baseless and that Madara is actually alive?" he asked.

"It would appear so," Sasuke replied. "The Kyuubi confirmed it."

"Maybe," the retired Hokage said thoughtfully.

Sarutobi didn't sound so sure he believed it, but then, he didn't know just how well Sasuke could control the beast. Team 7 had never shared that secret with anyone else. All that even Jiraiya knew of Sasuke's abilities was that he could use his doujutsu to force the Kyuubi's chakra back.

"You said there are two mysteries about the day Itachi executed my clan, Sensei. What's the other?" Sasuke asked, switching topics.

"Oh, the forensics evidence was clear that he didn't do it alone. He had someone else helping him. We've never found out who, though."

Sasuke nodded.

"What about Danzo, Sensei?"

"Pretend you're interested for now, all three of you and put this out of your minds now that you've informed us, your superiors. The situation will be handled," Sarutobi replied.

Sasuke nodded again and rose from his seat. Naruto mirrored him.

"Thank you for this audience, Sensei."

"You're welcome, Sasuke. You two take care of yourselves, you hear."

"Yes, Sensei."

After the boys left, Sarutobi turned to his papers and began composing a new letter. This one addressed to both the Daimyo and the Godaime Hokage. It was clear that Danzo's overweening ambitions had finally grown to the level where he'd lost whatever modicum of common sense he'd ever had. There were plenty of dark secrets in Konoha's closet other than the Uchiha clan execution and it was clear he could no longer be trusted to keep them. The very nature of the secrets was such that they'd turn friends into enemies and break alliances, and the security in this area could not be compromised.

It was time to bury Danzo.

xxxxx

Naruto and Sasuke weren't surprised to see that neither Hinata nor Shino were around on their return.

"What's happening, Naruto?" the Team 7 medic and ambush specialist asked.

"Security?" he asked.

"I rigged the room for light and sound just now. It should be good for a quarter of an hour, probably."

"Danzo tried to suborn me with a revelation about my family," Sasuke told her, "I had to confirm it."

"But why did you use the Sharingan on Naruto?" the kunoichi asked.

"Because it's been a while since I busted his bones and he misses it," Naruto replied touchily. He was going to extract his pound in flesh for that offense from Sasuke when the time was right. Shooting a glare at his errant teammate, he said, "Don't think that I'm going to let you off the hook because of today's revelations."

Sasuke grimaced.

"I know I screwed up, Naruto."

"Damn right, you did."

Sasuke ignored him and turned to his teammate.

"I'll tell you all the details later after we get out of this snake's pit, but for now, suffice to say that the rumors of the death of my ancestor, Uchiha Madara, one of the founding fathers of our village, were exaggerated and he was responsible for the Kyuubi's attack. Moreover, it turns out that my clan was executed for planning a coup against the village. My brother carried out the execution."

Sakura blinked.

"And Danzo told you this to win you over?" she asked.

"More or less. We have individual confirmation of both the Kyuubi attack and my clan's fate from Naruto's permanent and quite ungrateful guest as well as the Sandaime."

That gave Sakura pause as she thought over the proper course of action. She did not find any so she turned to her teammate for action.

"You think we ought to go missing nin?" she asked, sliding into a chair facing her teammates.

"Do we, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, making eye contact with his friend. "It's your decision on this matter."

"Don't be dumb, you two. We aren't leaving. Konoha's our village and I'm not going to dishonor my ancestors again by trying to betray it like my relatives did."

"Then we better start sucking up to Danzo right now. It'd be advisable to start slow and accelerate on the ass kissing as we go for something tells me that a wrong step on our part is liable to earn us a poisoned meal, a slit throat, a garroted neck or a dagger in the back," Naruto opined, heaving a little sigh of relief. He knew he'd have left the village without so much as a backwards glance if that was what Sasuke wanted – as would have Sakura – but it'd have made for some awkwardness in the future.

"That's for the immediate present," Sakura agreed, "what of the future?"

"I have to establish correspondence with my brother somehow. That's going to be a bitch seeing as how we don't even know where he is or what he's been doing all these years."

"You going to spare him?" Naruto asked.

"No, Itachi wants to die for some reason. There's no other reason I can think of for why he gave me his _instructions_ on that night. It's probably because he wants to be killed like a dog for his sins against our clan. Of course, I'm not going to treat him like that. Not when I know the truth now. But I will help him commit seppuku as atonement. Either on the battlefield or off it. It is my duty as his second."

"And after that?"

"You heard the Sandaime, Naruto. My clan wouldn't have died without the Kyuubi attack creating so much distrust and feeding the turmoil between my clan and the others. Simmering tensions aggravated to the point of no return after its assault. Nevermind that Madara is guilty of attempting to wipe out the village and my clan when he controlled the Nine Tail so. As such, it's my responsibility to deal with the rogue."

Naruto chuckled at Sasuke's words.

"That's a relief," the blonde piped to his teammates, cheerily. "I was afraid for a second there that Sasuke's plans have changed. That'd have been like the end of the world or something."

"They have, you idiot," Sasuke growled, swatting at the blonde.

"No, they haven't. The basic premise is still the same: Hunt mass-murdering relative and kill same."

"I swear I'm going to strangle you in your sleep one day, Naruto!" Sasuke retorted hotly.

Sakura guffawed at that. Sure, they were going up against someone who had enough power to rival the Shodai sixty-odd years back and it was certain as sunrise that the man had grown more powerful over the years, but all was well within her family and that alone mattered.

Her family was united and that, certainly, was more than enough.

xxxxx

"Are the troops ready?" the Godaime Kazekage asked his ANBU staff.

"Yes, Kazekage-sama," the faceless ANBU commander whispered.

The Kazekage stared down at the five hundred ANBU, jounin, chuunin and even genin illuminated by numerous torches and arrayed into neat ranks on the ground below. This was all the nin Suna could assemble on such short notice and he was going to thrown them at Danzo's camp. By sunset the day after tomorrow, many of his shinobi would be dead, but then, so would Danzo's camp down to the last rat. In the Godaime's considered opinion, that was a fair enough price for the blood of these heroes.

"Brave shinobi of Sunagakure," the Kazekage spoke, "the people of Kaze no Kuni have toiled under the yoke of Fire country for over three years now. In that time, the Fire ninja have raped and killed, and looted and pillaged with impunity, taking advantage of our weakened state to prey on us.

"That time comes to an end today. We're no longer weakened. The Hidden Village in Sand is strong. The Land of Wind is strong. We have righteousness and justice on our side. And we will emerge triumphant.

"Today, you're assembled to avenge the spilled blood of your family members and your countrymen. You will work in concert with the samurai units surrounding that worm Danzo and his coterie, and you will reduce his fortress back to the dust from which it rose. You will crush those vermin and leave no stone unturned hunting down those thieves and murderers. Abide not a rat to live within those walls!"

xxxxx

"Danzo-sama," the masked nin said in metronome, as he knelt on the floor.

"What do you have to report on our young Uchiha and his friends?" Danzo asked, picking up a glass of water.

"Their tent was rigged for light and sound twice after his meeting. For a stretch of about fifteen minutes both times. The second time, the survivors of Team 8 attached to their unit weren't in the tent."

"And what are they doing now?"

"They've put a rotating watch and turned in for the night."

"What were they doing when the screens went down?" Danzo asked curiously.

"They were carrying on ribbing each other as usual."

Danzo nodded. The fact that they used the screen told him they were aware of being observed or at least conscientious enough of security to act as if nothing had happened. He reflected that on hindsight, it might have been better to use Shisui's gift on Sasuke during their meeting, but the risk of using the eye against a Sharingan prodigy hadn't seemed worth the reward then. Maybe he should have…

Anyways, he'd observe the three nin tomorrow before deciding what to do about Team 7.

xxxxx

"Well, kiddies," Jiraiya said jovially, "here we are."

Several members of his temporary command recently emerged from the belly of toads looked grossed out, remembering their journey up and down the throats of the critters. The Sannin ignored them.

"That right there is the Grass-Fire border, where loads of fun awaits us fine adventurers. So does much booze and cooze," he crooned gaily.

"Yeah, lucky for us you brought us here to face two bijuu," someone commented sourly from the back.

"Hey, don't be so down," retorted another wiseass in the darkness. "You ask me, fighting jinchuuriki is a definite improvement over being regurgitated as toad puke."

Others assented vociferously at that statement.

"The whole generation's made of ungrateful brats," Jiraiya groused half-heartedly while he stared intently towards Grass country. "It's probably that brat Naruto's fault."

xxxxx

The first unit of the Iwa-Grass alliance crossed into the Hi no Kuni border at four in the morning the same day. They encountered no resistance as Mukai's troops were sound asleep in their barracks.

xxxxx

Author's notes:

Please leave reviews!

This chapter is approximately two thousand words longer than I planned, but I think I've done the characters and the plot threads justice. Hopefully, you, the reader, feel the same.

Thanks to warslasher for his suggestions and corrections! Thanks also to wirespeed91 for reminding me of a lesson I'd forgotten. LOL


	25. Plans Hatched

The Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 22: Plans Hatched

Disclaimer 1: My message of hope is that one day we'll reach the stars. Can I have my Noble now? Or at least the prize money?

Disclaimer 2: I swear undying hatred to Edward Cullen and Bella! May the vampire that sparkles and the girl he fell in love with burn in hell forever.

Note: Be forewarned. This is not proofread.

xxxxx

The security around the alliance to rid Wind of the tyranny of Danzo and his Fire masters was very tight. Of course, the old cripple had his spies within Suna and had even suborned a few nobles to his cause. But Kaze no Kuni was aware there were traitors in his ranks and ordered the compartmentalization of the treaty with Cloud and Lightning. He and his planners knew that the treaty needed to remain secret only until Danzo was sufficiently weakened and Hi no Kuni's attention was focused on other fronts.

On the other side of the equation, Danzo was aware that his spies within Suna and the Kaze no Kuni Daimyo's court weren't infallible. To manage this risk, he had other agents observing all units of Wind country big enough and near enough to pose a threat to him and his men. But the initial phases of the Wind and Lighting alliance's plans required very little troop movement from Suna, depending, as it did, on the borrowed jinchuuriki of the Two-tails to bleed Danzo's _peacekeepers_ dry. In combination with the veil of secrecy around the treaty as well as the use of borrowed troops, the initial actions caught him and his men by surprise. Consequently, he lost more men than he could afford to in those first few weeks.

But as the saw goes, no plan survives contact with the enemy. As Danzo suffered a reversal of fortunes, the introduction of Konoha's own heavy hitters in Team 7 into the fluid situation in Kaze no Kuni and their subsequent successful capture of Kumo's jinchuuriki was a big setback for Wind. Its impact was amplified by the fact that it came so close to the planned date for Cloud's offensive operations against Leaf in Rice country as it did. In the aftermath of this upset, it was clear to both the Kazekage and his Daimyo that Danzo wasn't weakened enough – or rather, Suna had lost enough nin to no longer enjoy a decisive advantage over Konoha's _peacekeepers_ – which put a huge wrench in their plans to embroil Hi no Kuni in a hopeless and very short multi-front war. In effect, the chaos of war had ruined everyone's plans in the Land of Wind.

But a war leader is a flexible thinker who doesn't lose heart at the first setback and thus, the Wind Daimyo ordered the hastily assembled assault involving both samurai and shinobi against Danzo. The fact that such a move was necessitated by a need to save face before the Daimyo's allies in Lightning and the strategic imperative to remove Danzo and his men only made the decision inevitable. Of course, moving such large bodies of men at short notice is impossible to affect stealthily and that meant all too visible preparations for operations in the regiments encircling Danzo's camp as well as within the walls of Sunagakure, which were observed by ever watchful spies and reported back…

xxxxx

Teams 7 stood by the only entrance to the tent at the rear of the seated assembly of twenty as Danzo briefed his advisors and commanders. On hearing the summons, they'd wondered why they'd been invited – there was no other reason they could discern for the cripple to request their presence at any meeting than as part of a test of their allegiance – but it'd become clear such was not the case minutes into the presentation. Reports of Iwa's imminent invasion of Fire as well as Kumo's troop movements in Rice and Suna's preparations for assault had arrived within an hour of each other in the early hours of the morning and everyone realized the nature of the crisis that confronted Hi no Kuni.

"You're all aware of Kumo's collusion with Wind in the acts of provocation carried out by the latter here in Kaze no Kuni. Now, in conjunction with the preparations we're seeing within Sunagakure as well as the samurai units encircling us, we have to conclude that they are going to move against this camp within the next few days.

"There can be no doubt that three regiments of samurai supported by a detachment of shinobi against a unit our size in numbers is an adverse correlation of forces against us, but in this case, the appearance of strength on the enemy's part is deceptive. We have to bear in mind that our adversary is not concentrated. He's spread his numbers all around us and the nin compliments that are presently attached to his forces in our vicinity are not all that strong. This gives us a brief window of opportunity where if we move quickly, we can defeat one or more of his units in detail or escape before the trapdoors snap shut around us," Danzo stated, making eye contact with the members of Team 7, hoping to gauge their reaction.

But contrary to Danzo's expectations, there wasn't even the slightest shift in Team 7's stance at his pronouncement. Still, the old cripple caught Naruto's eyes briefly and nodded at the blonde.

"Our situation is bad enough that we cannot ignore the latter as an option," he continued, baiting Kakashi's students again. As before, they refused to take the bait. Or maybe they agreed with him… Danzo could not tell either way. "This leaves us several courses of action that I'll now list.

"For the first option, we simply dig in and hold the enemy off. If we stand our ground, we'll fulfill our primary mission parameter of serving as a buffer for Hi no Kuni against any military adventures by Kaze no Kuni. We have enough rations to withstand any siege for four months, but with one Suna regiment in our rear, we will be overrun unless relieved. However, the longer we hold out against Wind attriting their forces, the better it is for our main war effort against Iwa and Kumo. In the long run, however, and regardless of how the war turns out on other fronts, if we are not relieved, our camp will be overrun and we'll be butchered.

"Second, we retreat to Hi no Kuni. Obviously, if we opt for this course of action, we'll have to engage the samurai regiment guarding our rear and defeat them. Our internal lines of supply will be secured once we are on Fire territory and we'll be in a better position to defend our homes from our enemies. The situation on the other front is such that we won't receive much in the way of reinforcements even then, however. We also need to consider that if we withdraw, the Wind Daimyo can use the news of our retreat as propaganda to shore up his support, and weaken the position of all the noblemen who support us and disagree with his policies. Our noble allies are not so strong as to stand against Kaze no Kuni's army without our support and I imagine that within six months, they'll be crushed. This, in turn, will threaten our war effort for we'll be beset by strong enemies on three fronts.

"Third, we go on the offensive. These Suna bastards have killed our men these last few weeks with their Kumo helpers with impunity. Now, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura over there have captured the foreign help and defanged those treacherous bastards some. But the price they extracted was only enough for a part payment. There's still plenty left to repay for the things the Sand vermin did to our comrades and we can get our own back if we move fast.

"However, if we decide on this course of action, we can forget the safety and security of our camp. We simply won't have enough time to crush one of the regiments and return here for succor. Even if we could, we'll be weary from the battle and nursing our own wounded, and we may not be strong enough to repel their attacks. The enemy will realize this and seek engagement before we can recover our strength once they gain the relevant intel.

"So, to deny the enemy the opportunity, we'll have to abandon our base and head elsewhere. Preferably to the territory of our noblemen allies. Such a course of action has its advantages and disadvantages. We can use the journey to recover our strength as we don't want _our allies_ to see us weakened. It might give them the impression that we're no help and if enough of them believe thus, they might decide to turn us over to their Daimyo and use us to purchase their return to his fold. On the negative side, of course, our actions will open the door to Hi no Kuni and Konoha for Wind and Sand.

"Fourth, we can surrender ourselves to the Wind Daimyo's tender mercies. Obviously, we'll have to be fools to choose this last option and even if it were a realistic possibility, we will not do it.

"Personally, I prefer number two. It saves our necks and ensures that most of our strength will be available to Konoha to fulfill whatever need may arise in these troubled times." _And there's also the added plus of letting me step foot within Hi no Kuni's borders before the end of the four year term. Let those self-serving, hypocritical bastards try to execute me when they need me and the strength of my men to save their collective asses!_

"Danzo-sama," Naruto said in the silence that followed as officers mulled over their options, "if I may say a few words?"

"Go ahead. That's the very purpose of this meeting," the man replied, eyeing the boy speculatively. The men gathered in the room weren't from his brainwashed units, after all, and liked to have their opinions heard. The Konoha loyalists and the Danzo's own loyalists within the camp had enough friction between them that he was wary of mixing them together. The former had to pretend the latter did not exist out of political expedience, but fights regularly broke out between individual members of the two units, usually instigated by newcomers from Leaf. And until he was sure of Team 7's loyalty to his cause, he wanted to keep them away from his personal troops.

Naruto nodded.

"One piece of intel that our observers seem to have missed is that the Wind regiment between us and Fire is not combat ready. They had a breakout of the flux and remain weak."

"And how did you come by this information?" one of the seated officers asked, turning to face the blonde in his seat.

"A little bird told me," Naruto shot back cheekily with a wry grin. His comrades did not have need to know that he infected the Wind regiment's water supply. The only thing that should concern them was the result of his sabotage. Then, addressing everyone, "Obviously, I can't reveal my sources and risk compromising them. But I've independent confirmation from separate sources on this subject. The regiment, I will go so far as to say, is combat ineffective. Easy pickings. They won't put up resistance worth a damn if we have a go at them."

"But?" Danzo asked, sensing that the blonde wasn't finished yet. His mind spun various scenarios in his head, as he tried to discern the direction in which Naruto was trying to steer the group's decision.

"But I'm not sure if such a course of action will serve us or Konoha best. Iwa, Kumo and Kusa are going to be pressing the Land of Fire hard. If we cannot secure Suna's support or failing that, neutrality, we'll be beset on all sides and with such odds stacked against us, we'll probably lose the war. Thus, what happens here, in Suna, over the course of the next week will determine whether we have any chance at victory or not. And by extension, what we do here will save the land of our fathers. Think of the glory and honor and loot at our feet. It's to be had if we can only dare."

Danzo nodded gravely and his eyes pored over his gathered officers as they turned in their seats to face him. It was clear from the looks on their faces that at least some of them were seriously considering Naruto's words. But the old war hawk had his own agenda and he wasn't about to let a young pup take it all away with foolish dreams of glory and material wealth.

No, Danzo's plans included stepping foot on Hi no Kuni at the earliest to secure the country's future and to re-exert her supremacy over the other upstart nations. For who knew how that bumbling incompetent Kakashi would conduct the war? It was very probable, in the old warhawk's opinion, that Minato's golden prodigy would lose all because he let himself be guided by his sensibilities. Which simply would not do! What Konoha and Fire needed right now was a dynamic leader who had the courage, conviction and the moral fiber to make tough decisions and it was very clear to Danzo that he was that man!

"Chuunin Naruto has the right of it in that the next few weeks are crucial for Hi no Kuni's very existence," he conceded, spinning his own web of seductive reason. His job was made all the easier by the fact that it was up to the blonde to play the maverick while all he had to do was advocate conservatism, which all ninja understood in the very fiber of their being. "But we'll be no use to anyone if we throw away our lives in a mad charge. So, unless there's a purpose to striking into the enemy's heartland, I see no choice but to preserve this command and retreat. Sure, we'll be abandoning Kaze no Kuni to the Suna dogs, but we'll at least be alive to guard the gates of Fire from the barbarians when they come against us. And that, I think we can all agree, is where our duty ultimately lies. Live and protect the land of our forefathers."

Several officers murmured their assent and Danzo smiled inwardly. As always, age and guile beat youthful exuberance hands down.

"Danzo-sama is correct," Naruto demurred humbly. Truth to tell, he thought the traitor was wrong, but he wanted the man to think that Team 7 were on his side and were dissenting only because they saw an opportunity to further the old cripple's ends that he himself did not. And if his flattery lowered the man's guard and made him pliable to the blonde's suggestions, Kakashi's student certainly wasn't going to be above it. "I agree that all the fine men in this camp shouldn't be sacrificed needlessly. As things stand, their skills are crucial to our nation's very survival. And I'm not asking anyone to throw away your lives in a pointless gesture.

"But I beseech you to consider this. The path of retreat is guarded by one disease infested regiment that cannot block our escape. And there're two regiments before us supported by medium sized shinobi compliments ripe for the plucking. If you move quickly, you can hit one of them, avoid the blocking force already in position as well as the other regiment when it moves to intercept you and gain the safety of Fire's borders where you'll be reinforced by the units that are at this very moment, standing guard there. With that one act, you'd have destabilized the situation in Suna, undermined the Wind Daimyo's power and earned much glory and loot. Your names will be on everyone's lips as the savior of Fire country and the Daimyo himself will owe you for life."

"You keep saying 'you,'" one of the other shinobi officers, who'd been silent so far in the conversation, interrupted, "what will you be doing while the rest of us are striking at the samurai?"

The blonde turned his eyes on his teammates, a predatory grin on his face. They shot back seraphic smiles at him and he turned his gaze to his questioner. The man was a hardened veteran and so did not flinch back, but several who were lesser shinobi did. For Naruto's smile had the hard edge of a coldblooded killer contemplating massive violence about it.

"With Danzo-sama's permission and blessings, the three of us are going to Kaze no Kuni's capital to meet the Daimyo."

xxxxx

Jiraiya swallowed a mouthful of water and offered his canteen to the scout before him.

"Report?" he asked after the latter had satiated his thirst.

"Supply train of seven wagons two miles North with an escort of a platoon of samurai and a squad of shinobi. I did not sense anyone with a strong chakra in their ranks. They could be hiding it, I suppose, but I doubt it."

The Toad sannin nodded. He agreed with the scout's assessment himself. His unit hadn't been active long enough for the enemy to start beefing up the security in their rear. He considered the problem for a few seconds and made up his mind.

Soon after infiltrating the Grass border, the Sannin had split his company into three platoons and sent two ahead to operate deeper within enemy lines. He'd attached himself to the third, slightly over-strength platoon, intending to use it as the official reserve while catching whatever enemy forces escaped his minions' clutches and killing stragglers of the invasion force.

"We'll ambush them at the turn of the road," he said to the young shinobi gathered around him. "Mind you, I want Iwa prisoners. We'll extract intel on the two Iwa jinchuurikis before sending them on to Konoha."

"What about Kusa-nin?" someone asked.

"Don't go out of your way to take Kusa prisoners. If they offer themselves up, take them in," the Sannin said absentmindedly, his thoughts on Iwa's jinchuuriki. He was particularly worried about Stone's strategic weapons. These shinobi were the same who'd fought against Konoha during the last war and working in tandem, they were known to be utterly ferocious fighters and skilled tacticians. Jiraiya had no doubt that age had only made them more dangerous. And in this war, with the forces of Hi no Kuni stretched as they were, the Iwa's tailed beasts had to be neutralized at all costs. He certainly had to hold them back at least a fortnight while Kakashi moved heaven and earth to scrounge up enough troops to create a line in the rear.

"And if they fight?"

Jiraiya's eyes turned cold.

"Kill the backstabbing vermin."

xxxxx

Kakashi stared balefully at the report on his table. It was on days like this that he regretted ascending the Hokage seat and shouldering all the responsibilities that came with the job.

On his desk was intel that Kumo's troops in Rice were being reinforced in a big way by Cloud and Lightning, and he did not need anyone to tell him – again – that Wind and Sand were acting up on their side of the border. Perhaps because they sensed something they took for weakness, the pricks at Stone, Rock and Grass had marched their troops into Hi no Kuni itself. Worst of all, from Kakashi's standpoint, the Iwa-Kusa alliance had assembled their troops without Leaf gaining cognizance until it was too late to do anything about the massed troops. It said much of the magnitude of Konoha ANBU Intelligence group's failure that even at this late stage in the game, they could only make guesses as to whether the Iwa-Kusa alliance simply wanted to grab some land while Fire's attention was divided between several other enemies, or they planned to overrun the capital and wipe Fire off and Leaf off the map of the Elemental nations. Certainly, the long running enmity between Stone and Leaf was bitter enough that the latter was as just as likely as the former. Either way, it was clear that the Land of Fire faced the gravest danger to its existence in the eighty-odd years since the formation of the hidden villages.

The fundamental problem was that the decision on force levels for Hi no Kuni and Konohagakure had been shaped over the last decade on the premise that Fire would be forced to fight Iwa, Kumo and Kiri in the worst-case scenario. To counter this threat, the plan called for establishing supremacy, or failing that, standoff capability through parity over the Mist navy. Towards that worthy goal, Hi no Kuni's navy had been strengthened in the last three years with a hefty dose of talent from Tea and Wave, and major fleets as well as sizable ninja garrisons staged in those two lands to make Kiri think twice before embarking on any foreign adventure.

Rock and Lightning were on the same continent as Fire, however, and any war with them was going to be lost or won on land. With this in mind, Hi no Kuni and Konohagakure built up their Samurai and nin units in the three years of "peace" since Fire's annexation of Tea so as to be able to fight a two front war against Iwa and Kumo. Everyone had assumed – and with good reason – that Wind's neutrality would be ensured at the minimum and thus, no one had weighed them as a factor in their strategic calculations. In hindsight, it was clear that ignoring Wind was a big mistake, seeing as Kaze no Kuni was one of the five great elemental nations, but the think-tanks had grown complacent towards the former in the aftermath of the Suna-Oto affair. It was an all too human failure and his people were going to suffer greatly as a result of it…

Which led to the present debacle. How was Fire to win a war with three of the other four great elemental nations when their surface forces were tailored for a war against two?

_Too bad there isn't a time travel jutsu invented so that I can go back and wring Jiraiya's neck for helping Sarutobi talk me into this seat. And to kick my own ass for being idiot enough to accept it!_

But in the absence of such a technique, there was nothing to be done except plow forward as best as he could. Which meant, deciding how to punish Kumo for their aggression in Rice. Sinking their commerce on the seas was too big an escalation, the Godaime judged, and would quite possibly push them into pursuing action on other fronts. Such a reaction would stretch Fire's forces even further and was to be avoided. Neither could Hi no Kuni afford to simply ignore Lightning's actions in Tea and Rice. Fire had to demonstrate their confidence in their own strength to the other weaker nations during this time of crisis lest the smaller fry too sensed allied with the jackals and begin to nip at Hi no Kuni's heels.

And most important of all, he had to find the troops somewhere to fight the Iwa-Kusa invaders. He did not know how he was going to manage that, but if Fire was to stand a chance at surviving the war, he must.

_Perhaps…_

xxxxx

"I hope you had a pleasant journey, Lord," Sarutobi said, greeting his visitor.

The Fire Daimyo nodded amicably to the retired Hokage and seated himself with a sigh of contentment. He much preferred cushy seats to riding on a horse carriage. The Daimyo's guards quietly withdrew to the wall, joining Sarutobi's people in their vigil.

"It was, thank you," the Daimyo said. Smiling, he expanded on his statement, "We did not run into any trouble throughout our march and I'm very happy for it. The peace I see in Tea today is a far cry from even a year and a half before. Hi no Kuni is indebted to you and your men, Sarutobi."

"Thank you, Lord. Your words do me and my men great honor. We were very fortunate in the early stages of our rule here in Tea. The previous regime made a critical error in judgment at the start of the insurrection when they destroyed two of the three major stores of imported grain in the land. As you know, Tea imports most of its food grains and it'd have been very bad for us if we'd ignored the plight of the citizenry as the insurgents did. Instead, by shipping in huge loads of grains and staving off famine, starting the road construction programs, repairing and expanding dams, investing huge sums of monies on shipbuilding programs, ensuring law and order, cutting off the resistance's seaborne supplies routes, protecting our supporters and the neutrals from the enemy and launching reprisals whenever we had conclusive evidence about the guerrillas, we took the sting out of the insurgency and it lost strength a lot earlier than expected. Still, it is an open secret that it was a near thing for the first two years when the programs were getting started and we didn't have enough hulls to control the supplies coming from the sea."

The Daimyo nodded.

"Even so, I'm very glad that Tea is peaceful today, because the situation developing inland is worrying in the extreme."

"Very much so, Lord. I'm especially perturbed by the goings on in Wind and Grass."

"The capture of the two-tails and Kusa's switch in allegiance?" the Daimyo asked.

Sarutobi nodded gravely.

"Committing a tailed beast is a very serious escalation. I would have thought that they'd want their jinchuuriki closer to home, but the very fact that they sent her to Suna is an indication of how seriously they value their newfound relationship with Kaze no Kuni."

"If you put it that way, it does sound very ominous," the Daimyo sighed. "Perhaps we were amiss in sending Danzo to Wind three years back."

The retired Sandaime shook his head.

"It had to be done to avert civil war, Lord."

"Yes, I suppose. And Kusa?"

"We'll deal with them in due time. If we survive the war."

"I'm inclined to teach Grass a lesson that'll live long in everyone's memory," the Daimyo conceded.

"We will," Sarutobi said. Then, with a grimace, "But there's something else that I wanted to talk to you about. There are spies about and I couldn't risk letting this information get out, though Kakashi needs to hear it soonest."

"Oh?"

"It's about Danzo and the Uchiha affair…"

xxxxx

"Konan?"

"Yes, Nagato."

"We're going monkey hunting."

xxxxx

Author's notes:

Please leave reviews.

Well, it's been a long time since the last chapter. I'm sorry that you had to wait for it so, but a personal tragedy and a hectic work schedule took up all my time. This chapter was supposed to be longer with a big battle in it, but I decided to cut it short. This ending feels kind of appropriate and you have my apologies about the cliffhanger. To mollify your tempers, I'll offer you this. It'd be two or three chapters of continuous action from the next chapter onwards. I hope I'm up to the challenge of writing it.

Finally, I have posted what I consider a thought-provoking Avatar oneshot called Consequences in my profile. If you have free time, gentle reader, please go through it and let me know what you think about it. I've had three reviews so far and in one of those, the reviewer called me a racist. LOL


	26. Sauté à l'Akatsuki

The Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 23: Sauté à la Akatsuki

Disclaimer: What happens when an UN worker meets an alien? He sells the Earth for a luxury retreat and a pension for his family.

Note: Not proofread.

xxxxx

"Commander, the telegraph stations are not responding," the technician on watch reported to his watch officer.

The watch officer – a shinobi holding the rank of special jounin – of the station approached the technician's desk, a serving of sushi in hand and a blank look on his face.

All elemental countries had a small but rarely used telegraph network connecting the capital and the largest few cities and towns. The network was fast, but wasn't as secure as messenger birds or shinobi carriers. In Wind's case, the casualties caused by the Yondaime Kazekage's ill-advised adventure in Fire country were compounded by the havoc subsequently inflicted by Danzo's peacekeepers, weakening the shinobi corps too much for them to guarantee effective internal lines of communication while pulling their myraid of other duties. The pressures on Suna had thus forced the Daimyo to expand the telegraph network on a temporary basis despite the fact that it was more open to outside interference. But when Danzo's goons ignored the wires month after month even as Sand shinobi running those communication lines were pulled somwhere, some bright soul somewhere decided that the tree-hugging idiots did not realize the network's significance and significantly expanded the scope of the program. Now, three years into the "occupation", while the most sensitive communication was carried by messenger birds and ninja, pretty much everything else was relayed on the wire. Those same relaying stations were not responding to status checks now…

"You don't think it's accidental?" he asked.

The technician shook his head.

"Not so much of the network at once, Sir."

The commander nodded. The bright soul sitting behind some desk who'd made the decision to depend on the network so much had not realized that while you could rob Peter to pay Paul and make as if things were fine for a while, eventually you had to pay the bill. And the special jounin's gut was saying that it was happening now on his watch, which just sucked camel cock.

"Keep trying to re-establish connection. Meanwhile, send maintenance parties escorted by teams of two ninjas chuunin-rank or above along the lines to check for sabotage and make repairs. Inform me if there are any further developments."

"Yes, Sir."

The commanded turned away from his subordinate's station and summoned five vultures. He murmured his report to the birds and sent them away to report higher up. Then, because he was a commander and had to act composed before his subordinates, he sat down and pretended to enjoy his sushi. He consoled himself with the fact that there was nothing more he could do to influence events further except carry out his duties to the best of his ability.

Up in the night sky, two of the birds headed for the capital and three flew straight for the units guarding Danzo – incase the idiots hadn't noticed the failure of the telegraph network and failed to prepare for whatever the cripple had planned for them.

xxxxx

"We've been walking for hours and have yet to encounter a single tree hugger. You'd think that the one-eyed prick Danzo would grow more security conscious after the events of the recent past and increased the patrols or something."

In the morning twilight, Kakuzu stopped in his tracks and glared at his partner. The fact that Hidan's complaint echoed his own thoughts a few minutes earlier did not lessen his irritation at the freak. He would kill the fair-skinned death-worshipper as soon as this mission was over and they'd communicated its successful completion to the Akatsuki leader.

_It shouldn't be long now_, he thought as he sensed improperly suppressed chakra less than a kilometer away. He hoped it was a reinforced partrol becaue then they'd have wiped out two large teams and fulfilled the mission objective to weaken Danzo's garrison in Wind. Kakuzu burst into a smile then. He would use the death fetishist to whittle down the Leaf shinobi numbers and then hit the psychopath from the rear. Kakuzu's smile positively lit his face as he imagined walking into a pig sty to serve minced Hidan.

Hopefully, the next idiot the higher-ups foisted on him would be less irritating than the Jaishin worshipping scumbag and his predecessors.

xxxxx

The stars in the sky were partially occluded by light clouds and the smoke from the nearby city. There was some light traffic already on the merchant highway to the capital of Tea even though daybreak was a few hours away. It spoke much of the health of the insurgency and how well the Tea was integrating itself into Fire that the merchants were accompanied by a very small security contingent. And except for a few pockets here and there, pretty much the whole of Tea country was like this. The sight reinforced what Pain knew already. The insurgency in Tea was dying if not dead already.

Still, it grieved Pain's heart to do the thing he was about to do, but divine will could not be stymied by so human an emotion as grief. The path to everlasting peace awaited just out of reach and today, he would push the world the first step towards it with the capture of retired Sandaime Hokage.

"Konan, we strike at dawn."

xxxxx

Team 7 left Danzo's camp in the wee hours of the morning with the first scouting party. The scout's primary mission was to screen Danzo's soon to depart main body of troops from ambushes. Their patrol course for the first hour matched Sakura's own for Team 7 closely enough that she'd elected to link up with them for part of the march. There was still the other team of killers hunting Leaf shinobi out there and it was only common sense to lend as much help to the scouts as possible.

The party of ten – six scouts, Team 7 and their newest appointed Liaison (Though he didn't say it, Danzo still needed firsthand report of Team 7 in action for his own purposes and there was also the political mileage he would gain from having one of his men participate in the assault on Kaze no Kuni's capital back in Fire country) – headed out in two columns a hundred yards apart with the scout team's two trackers leading the columns. As expected of one of Danzo's own secretly trained killers who'd been carefully hidden from Konoha's cognizance, Liaison did not have any name other than what was given him for the duration of the mission. In this case, he'd been named after the role he performed. Knowing that Danzo was testing their loyalty when he unveiled one of his personal shinobi before him, Team 7 hadn't reacted to the revelation as the terms of Danzo's banishment demanded.

The scouts kept their chakras firmly suppressed from long practice, but Sakura intentionally let her chakra leak as bait. If the killers were nearby, she wanted them to hone in on her location so that they could be dealt with while the scouts were under Team 7's protective umbrella. For this reason, she and her teammates, along with the liaison were on the outer, exposed column.

The anticipated attack happened on the fifty seventh minute of their march. The fact that it caught four experienced, chakra sensitive shinobi almost unawares was a testament to the skill of the ambushers. But then, seeing as how the ambushers were Akatsuki, it was unsurprising.

xxxxx

For reasons that Hidan did not understand, Kakuzu offered to let the death-worshipper spring the ambush in the morning twilight, unlike the other times when they'd faced two or more separate units of even fairly weak enemy shinobi. If Hidan had been of sound mind or tactically inclined, he would have thought to question Kakuzu on the wisdom of the decision and accuse him of gross stupidity – there was no point in giving an enemy any breathing space in any engagement, much less an ambush, and in any ambush, one started with one's deadliest weapon, which in this case, meant Kakuzu as he was the long range ninjutsu specialist of the two – but since the Jaishin disciple was neither, he did not.

While Kakuzu watched from his own hiding place, Hidan, being a close range fighter, waited until the last member of the Leaf patrol crossed his position before he attacked with a textbook slash aimed at decapitating Sasuke. Since Sasuke had kept his chakra suppressed unlike Sakura and the Jashin-worshipping maniac from Yugakure did not know his target was an Uchiha trained for speed, the coup de grace did not quite go as planned.

Having sensed Hidan as soon as the later cleared his hidey-hole, Sasuke swung around to face his executioner and in a movement so smooth that even Leaf's own taijutsu experts Gai and Lee would have had trouble executing it, grabbed Hidan's weapon just under the blade, killing its swing. A fraction of a second later, before Hidan reacted to the unexpected action, a lance of lightning carved Akatsuki's sole death-fetishist from left hip to just under his right shoulder.

A look of utter incomprehension on his face, Hidan fell to the ground in four pieces – a hand, an arm wielding a blade, part of the torso with two legs and the rest of the torso with the head.

Sasuke did not get time to savor his first Akatsuki kill, however. As things stood, Sakura had to kawarimi him out of the way of Kakuzu's zukoku and a river of fire hot enough to melt sand to glass roared through his position.

Meanwhile, as Sasuke escaped a horrible burning death by a whisker, the scouts retreated further back while Naruto and Liaison charged Kakuzu. They were both Leaf ANBU – though one was a bastardized caricature trained by the banished Danzo - and it was ingrained into their souls to always go for the kill.

Naruto reached the Akatsuki member first, recklessly chasing the masked man as he cut his fire technique and retreated. As punishment for the blonde's incaution, a dozen appendages sprung from the sand, grabbed his left leg and tore it to ribbons. Without his leg, Naruto crashed to the ground a bleeding mess and exploded into smoke.

Realizing he'd been duped, Kakuzu turned just in time to block another Naruto's attack. He was doomed to fail, however, as the blonde exploded when his fist was inches away from Kakuzu's block. The blast threw the Akatsuki member some thirty yards, allowing the bolt of lava Liaison shot at him to pass through empty air.

In midair, Kazuku cursed his own stupidity and shortsightedness for his current predicament. It was clear to Kakuzu that he had misjudged the nature of the threat. As a result, that loser Hidan was effectively removed from the battle until he could be re-stitched. Since the mercenary knew it wasn't likely to happen before he dealt with the Konoha nin, he was left with the task of facing not only four skilled shinobi, but also had to contend with the fact that six others with unknown abilities were keeping themselves in reserve. His only consolation was that he'd faced such long odds countless times before and he was still alive. The same could not be said of his enemies, however.

"This just isn't my day," he muttered still as he landed on his feet, anchoring himself with his left hand. His anger rising, he released all four of his heart-wraiths. He was going to enjoy killing these puny fuckers almost as much as he was going to enjoy feeding Hidan to pigs.

Only, a bare second later, a ball of compressed chakra shot at high speed blew apart Kakuzu's true chest, pureeing his heart in the process. Still, even before the Akatsuki agent could fall, one of his wraiths re-emerged with him, lending him the gift of it's heart.

xxxxx

"Did you see that?" Naruto was flabbergasted as one of Kakuzu's wraiths reunited with him and he stood up, shrugging off a hit that would have killed any man. What was happening to this world that a good old Rasengan through the heart did not kill a motherfucker?

Fortunately, the blonde wasn't so stymied that when a heart-wraith shot the high-powered lightning attack, Gian at him, he did not sense it. A shunshin later, he was within knife-range of another of Kakuzu's wraiths that was wandering around like a drunk caught in one of Sakura's illusions. He tried stabbing it in the chest and was immediately rewarded with a big wave of water that shot out of its mask and which, he barely escaped.

"So, the stupid things can feel pain," he muttered, creating kage bunshin and sending them to facilitate sharing the data with the others. He recognized the enemy as Kakuzu, a longtime Akatsuki member from one of Kabuto's debriefs, but the file had been sparse on information about the missing nin's abilities. Now that they'd run into the guy, it was clear that he was some unique abilities and too powerful to face alone or in a team if they could not find out his vulnerabilities fast.

Just then, one of Naruto's clones swapped places with Sasuke and the Uchiha appeared next to the real Naruto. They were quickly joined by Sakura and Liaison.

"What is it, Naruto?" Sasuke groused. He'd killed his first Akatsuki, damnit and wanted a piece of the second before the scumbag got away. "I was in the middle of a fight."

"So are we all," Naruto replied calmly. "And my clones can handle things for a little while. I wanted to pool intel on this bastard. So, what have you got?"

"Aside from you took him out already and he isn't down for the count?" Sakura mused. "Well, let's see… He's vulnerable to genjutsu, is able to split his body into multiple parts and I've seen the bastard use high level fire, lightning and water attacks. The efficiency with which he executes them leaves me to conclude he has a natural affinity with all these elements."

"That's bullshit. Multiple natural affinity is a pipedream," Naruto retorted hotly just as a huge blast of wind and fire exploded out of the battlefield. He formed more kage bunshin and sent them in to take Kakuzu from his flanks even as he processed the knowledge from his clones. "Okay, maybe not. He uses wind as well. Anyways, inflicting pain breaks the wraiths out of genjutsu like it would a normal human. Unfortunately, stabbing them in the heart does not kill them. I found out when I stabbed the one that uses water."

"Assuming their anatomy is the same as ours, which I highly suspect," Sasuke noted. "The enemy had five independent chakra circulatory systems at the start, which may signify five hearts, but Naruto's Rasengan took one out. Now, he's got four with one for each of those things and one of the real one."

"Too bad we don't know where the hearts are on the wraith. I guess we can kill him if we take out the other four," Liaison opined.

"That sounds very much like a plan. We may not know how to take out the wraiths, but we already know how to take out the chakra circulatory systems one at a time. It'd be better to take them all out simultaneously, but what we have is what we have," Naruto said, "Are we agreed?"

The three nodded at him.

"Good. Sasuke and I are going to jump into the fray now. Sakura, you and Liaison will hit the bastard from the flanks while we engage him closely. The plan is to isolate the real one over and over again and stab his heart four more times. I would like to take an Akatsuki prisoner, but right now, the primary mission is the Wind capital. If it looks like it's not working, on my word, you'll all retreat and I'll nuke the place. Hopefully, that'll kill the bastard, though it might leave me a little low on chakra for the primary."

xxxxx

Kakuzu was starting to really hate today. He realized now that he was facing Konoha's jinchuuriki and his teammates along with other odds and ends – some if not all of whom were skilled. This put him in the unenviable position of being buried in smelly shit, a position he'd never been in before. He'd debated whether to throw pride to the wind and run like hell, leaving his other three surviving hearts as a sacrifice, but there were too many freaking blonde bunshins running around – and god knew how many of them were the exploding kind – for that to work and even if it did, he doubted if he would run faster than the jinchuuriki and Itachi's brother. Which meant, either he came up with a plan to defeat these children himself fast or possibly faster still, became dog food.

The trademark screech of yet another of Kakashi's infamous technique, the chidori, at close quarters was all the warning he needed to drag him out of that train of thought and fling himself out of harm's way. Or so he thought until a ninjato arcing with electricity ran him through his heart at that very moment. As lightning bolts coursed through him and the smell of burnt pork filled the air, his assailant released the ninjato and swapped places with a clone. The clone was crushed by one of Kakuzu's wraiths that jumped to its owners rescue too late. Still, it merged with Kakuzu and brought him back from death's threshold.

Kakuzu immediately put his threads to good use, forming tentacles and swatting at all the neighboring clones. His last two surviving wraiths closed ranks with him to guard his back. With fire, wind and lightning, he cleared the neighborhood, which was getting a little too crowded for his taste. It was clear now that the jinchuuriki and his teammates made extensive use of bunshins to anchor their enemy's attention while the real ones took potshots from the sidelines. Two of them were ninjutsu and taijustu experts while the third used Iwa molten rock techniques and the last was a genjutsu user and a close range fighter as a punch he'd received in the initial stages of the fight proved. Well, he was their better by a hundred years and he could play their game far better than they could.

Creating several hundred ordinary bunshin and masking his wraiths appearance, the aged Akatsuki member swung into action. The bunshin charged everything in sight and a wave of explosions swept the landscape as Naruto's clones blew themselves up, taking out many bunshin with them.

Kakuzu used the chaos to make his way slowly towards Hidan. When he was fifteen meters away from the maniac, two bunshin ran beside him. Thinking they were his own, he let them approach only to have the left one explode in his face not five feet away. Shielding himself from the blast with his tentacles, he barely had time to consider that the other one might also pose a danger when a kunai punctured his heart.

The clone henged as Kakuzu was immediately set upon by Kakuzu's wraiths. It blew itself up as the wraiths drew close enough to engage it hand to hand. One wraith stumbled from the explosion and was immediately hit by molten lava from the flanks that set its mask on fire. The last wraith made it to its actual target, Kakuzu's body and merged with him only to have Sakura appear kawarimi behind and smash him hard – by her terms – in the ribcage. Bones shattered at the raw power manifest behind her blow and Akatsuki's comptroller hit the desert ground so hard that there was a small explosion of dirt and dust.

xxxxx

Immediately after punching her target in the back, Sakura shunshined out. She did it not because she was afraid there might be other threats around, but because it was a reflex to her. She was and always would be an ambush fighter who exceled at using the element of surprise to backstab her unsuspecting quarry and retreating before anyone caught her. In this case, with Kakuzu lying dead in a broken and bloody heap, there was no enemy to fear, but habits in a battlefield saved or lost lives. And this was one good habit she intended to carry till the day she died.

"Great shot, Sakura," Sasuke complimented his teammate from afar, locking eyes with her.

Sakura shot a smile at him. It felt very good to have smashed the Akatsuki agent's chest to mush. Even if she wasn't positive that he and his friend were responsible for the massacred team, their group was interested in securing jinchuuriki and anyone who wanted to kill Naruto deserved whatever comeuppance they got.

Naruto, watching the little exchange a little further away, turned to Liaison, who stood closest to him.

"You too, Liaison," Naruto complimented the man. Then, spotting the scouts, he signaled the all clear to them. They'd stood in the sidelines and observed the battle, ready to intervene only if things went really awry, per prior agreement. He waved to their leader and said, "I think that takes care of the local vermin problem. Your team can move out now. We'll bag these corpses and send them to the intel group in Konoha."

The scout leader nodded from afar and set about chivvying his team into a job. Once they'd moved some hundred yards away, Naruto grimaced and set after Liaison who'd already started the search for the first Akatsuki agent.

"I'll help you with this one," he said aloud as he caught up with Danzo's trained killer. He found it interesting that the man knew the molten lava techniques from Iwa. There weren't too many people around who could use it and Naruto was sure that ANBU intelligence would be very interested in learning how the old cripple had caught hold of even one.

xxxxx

"I'll kill you all and drink your blood," the Akatsuki member's head threatened. "I'll gnaw your bones and bask in the sweet oblivion of your death agony. I'll…"

It had not taken Naruto and Liaison long to discover the body of the first attacker whom Sasuke had neatly chopped into four pieces. But where they'd expected to find a bled out corpse, they'd encountered animated body parts, which was really, really creepy. Even worse, the minced meat kept making annoying threats. Naruto could only imagine what a serious pain in the ass the "thing" – he refused to call it a man – must have been before being chopped up to be so annoying after the fact.

"What the fuck is wrong with these fuckers?" the blonde complained aloud, stuffing a rock into Hidan's mouth and breaking a few teeth in the process. As Hidan mumbled threats, Naruto stood up, kicked the bastard's still animated hands away and ranted. Yeah, he and his teammates knew Akatsuki were ninja bogeyman, but reality was even the greatest ninja were mortals who had to die someday. These Akatsuki seemed to be the exception to that rule and Naruto was seriously annoyed. There were plenty of folks like the old perv Jiraiya, the old Hokage Sarutobi and their own master, Kakashi who could be said to deserve immortality. But they were not, whereas the murderous scumbags in a mercenary group bent on world domination were. "I mean, Sasuke cut you into four pieces, asshole. Can't you take that as a hint and die? How the fuck are you even alive, much less talk? And why are your hands moving? What the fuck is wrong with your fucking hands and what the fuck is wrong with this world? Arghh!"

Glaring anger at the world at large, Naruto shook off the freak's left hand, which was once again trying to grab onto his legs. For a piece of flesh and bone that was scarcely more than a palm and five fingers, it sure was annoying. He stomped on it for good measure and kneeled next to the head so that he could look the thing in its eyes.

"I don't know what you are, you freak, but in a way I'm glad you're able to talk. I'm sure Konoha ANBU would be even gladder when they get their hands on you. Hopefully, you have a lot of beans to spill, but if you don't they'll accommodate you just fine. Freak!"

"Naruto-san, do you want the body parts to be bagged separately?" Liaison asked.

Naruto nodded.

"I do. Wouldn't put it past the freak to rejuvenate or something after the rebirth mojo his partner did."

Liaison nodded and set to work. Naruto went after Sasuke and Sakura to share the good news with them and to check on their progress. Almost half an hour had passed since sunrise and he wanted to reach the Wind capital by mid morning at the latest.

xxxxx

A lone rooster's crow echoed through the gates of the Tea capital, waking a few light sleepers. Of those souls roused out of their sleep, a few started their day by gazing out into the bleary morning light. Of those few, a bare handful focused their sight on the great walls surrounding the city. These became the first civilian witnesses to the Akatsuki leader's lone assault on the city as they beheld the vision from hell of a huge crab with weird eyes smashing part of the fortification to smithereens. The militiamen manning that particular section of the wall were the first casualties of the attack. They were by no means the last and by the end of the day, they would be joined by a great many more.

xxxxx

Author's notes:

You know, I worried and worried about how the first battle between Akatsuki and Team 7 would go, but in the end, I realized that there was no way a single S-rank nin could face Naruto and his friends who'd been specifically trained to hunt and kill such. It was not simply a matter of power though Kakuzu was outmatched by many leagues there, but it also a function of the numerical superiority that Team 7 had on their side with Naruto further compounded by the fact that Naruto literally had an army of clones that weren't afraid to commit suicide. Factor in Naruto's chakra sensing abilities in Sage mode, Sasuke's sharingan's own chakra sensing abilities and Sakura's own senses and throw in even a bit of extra help and there simply wasn't a chance when Kakuzu faced them alone. I could have made it interesting by not having Hidan chopped up so easily, but I wanted him for Konoha's ANBU and this looked like a sensible path to me.

That said, I hope you liked my treatment of the battle. Anyways, Sarutobi faces off Pain in the next chapter in the middle of a city. Can the Tea capital fare any better than Konoha in canon? ^_~

Also, French speakers who read this story, I hope the chapter title is proper. If not, I'd be much obliged if you'll correct me. Thanks.


	27. Heroes of Old and New

The Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter : Heroes of Old and New

Alternate chapter title: De l'audace, encore de l'audace, et toujours de l'audace

Disclaimer: Welcome to the dawn of a new era, says Stuxnet.

Also, "tomorrow or the day after" is officially today.

Notes: Not proofread. A proofread version will be posted at a later date. It should contain minimum changes.

xxxx

With age comes insomnia and Sarutobi was no exception to this basic fact of life. The retired Hokage had retired for the day at midnight and awakened three hours later. Afterwards, per long habit, he spent the time till daybreak at his desk, clearing paperwork and composing letters. Thus, when Pain's summon attacked the walls of the capital, he was awake and alert, unlike most of the city garrison.

"Koi," the oldster summoned the commanding officer of his guards.

"Yes, Sarutobi-sama," Koi whispered, appearing in a shunshin before the ex-Hokage.

"The city seems to be under attack. Send someone to ensure that the Daimyo is escorted to a secure location by his guards." It'd not taken more than a glance out the window to ascertain the explosion was no accident or incident perpetrated by an inebriated, powerful shinobi.

Koi nodded. He'd anticipated that command and dispatched someone for the task before he answered the Professor's summons.

"It's done, Sarutobi-sama."

The Third Hokage was unsurprised that Koi should preempt him so. The Root operator was a very capable officer who had a knack of anticipating and carrying out his commander's orders well ahead of time.

"I trust the command team will respond to the situation as it develops, but they'll need good intel. What say you that we go to the front and ensure the staff get it," Sarutobi said, gazing out the window in the direction of the attack. Even as he looked, a fresh plume of smoke and dust rose into the air from an explosion.

Koi murmured into his short-range radio and ordered his team to advance towards the assault. He and the Third followed the rest of the squad through the window a few seconds back.

xxxxx

A huge explosion some two blocks away punctuated Sarutobi and his guards' arrival at the battlefront. Scoping the situation with his keen eyes, it did not take the Sandaime more than a moment to conclude that the defense was in shambles. The enemy had advanced too fast and caught the garrison flatfooted, and the forces marshaled against the invaders and their giant crab summon proved too weak to the task. The retired Hokage could see that there was already a large swath of destruction reaching a hundred yards or so into the city. Certainly, the cause of the defenders wasn't being helped any by the fact that the response so far had been disorganized and haphazard.

"Status?" Sarutobi asked the first shinobi they ran into. The man had a large gash on his face that dribbled blood and looked a little dazed.

"I was on the wall when that damn thing attacked, Sir. There's a man riding atop it. I may be the only member of my squad still alive."

"Did you get a good look at the attackers?" the retired Hokage asked sternly.

"There's just the one on the crab, Sir."

Sarutobi's eyebrows narrowed. That little factum did not make sense. Only a crazed maniac would attack any fortified position, much less the province's administrative and military command center, alone. Unless…

"Describe his person," he asked.

"He's got orange hair and numerous piercings on his face. And he was wearing a black cloak with red clouds."

"Akatsuki," Koi cursed in a whisper.

Sarutobi nodded. The description of the attacker's clothing certainly fit the uniform of the Akatsuki. It certainly fit the profile that a member of an organization that boasted a sannin as one of its members would have the daring and the audacity to attack Tea's capital alone.

"Have your people engage the summon, Koi. Also, inform the staff to make haste on the reinforcements and to be wary of another attack on some other axes. I'll be along shortly to deal with the summoner," he instructed the Root officer. He had his own short range radio, but preferred not to use it except under dire conditions. To the wounded shinobi, he said, "Retreat to the rear and get that wound treated."

As the ninja nodded gratefully and retreated towards the designated medical stations as per the emergency response plans, the Third summoned Enma, the gorilla king.

"Who're we fighting, Sarutobi?" Enma asked, looking around curiously and sniffing the air.

"Akatsuki."

"How many?" the gorilla asked, cracking his knuckles at the thought of a good battle.

"One, but he's attacking the capital alone."

"Must have a huge set of balls and no brains," Enma retorted with a guffaw. Even the sannin would have hesitated to take on a walled city guarded by battle-hardened shinobi.

"Or they actually thing they can do this," Sarutobi retorted, his mind going back to other wars of the past when men and women of such power had walked the earth. Come to think of it, Kakashi's darlings were well on the way to becoming such powerhouses themselves. "Come, Enma, let's enjoin the battle and find out the truth for ourselves."

Enma chuckled at his old friend's words and led the way. The twosome arrived just in time to see the crab summon step close to a building that had been rigged to explode by the advance party of Sarutobi's guard. The Root operatives detonated the house as their mark entered the trap and the resulting explosion tore into the crustacean, even as the building was reduced to a smoldering, burning ruin.

The crab staggered out of the smoke and debris with most of its shell on the left side of its body shattered and vanished in a cloud of smoke. Sarutobi, whose attention had been drawn to the weird markings on its eyes before it disappeared, noted that the Akatsuki member who'd summoned the critter escaped the explosion unscathed. And if the man was stymied by the death of his gigantic pet, the Professor could not spot it in his eyes. As proof of his power, the invader summoned an even larger Rhinoceros a scant moment later.

Sarutobi, who'd expected another crab, upped the threat estimate and knew that he had a hard fought battle in his hands. No one in recorded history had struck summoning contracts with two animal clans, after all, and who knew what other abilities the wielder of such a skill had. The Sandaime quietly filed away the observation that like the crab before it, the rhino sported the same weird eyes as did the summoner. There was something strangely familiar about those eyes and the retired Hokage could not shake the feeling he'd seen or read about them somewhere.

Spotting Sarutobi, the rhinoceros lowered its head and charged the building he was using as an observation post. Concurrently, the Root operatives on the Third's flanks dispersed to the flanks with the exception of Koi, who jumped to the ground to meet the charge headfirst and activated his seal of power. Transforming into a human/scorpion hybrid, he countercharged the rhino and swung the tail that had grown at the base of his spine into the summon's neck. The rhinoceros' rough hide was no match for Koi-scorpion's sting, which severed its carotid artery. Mortally wounded, the two-horned beast vanished, and both Koi and Animal Pain landed safely on their feet.

Hoping to catch the Akatsuki leader on the wrong foot, Root operators in the flanks hurled ninjutsu attacks and assorted projectiles at Animal Pain. In turn, their quarry responded by summoning two men who had the same eyes as he did. And even though, there was no way that anyone summoned unwittingly into the center of a hail of attacks in the middle of a battlefield could have had complete situational awareness and responded instantly, but that was exactly what the new arrivals did. The projectiles were somehow repelled back to their owners with a wave of a hand by one of them and the ninjutsu attacks absorbed and vanished into thin air by the other.

Observing the action from the roof with the eye of experience, Sarutobi noted that the newcomers sported the signature orange hair and weird eyes. Weird eyes that he finally recognized from both historical texts that were dismissed by most of the modern world as myths and legends, and Jiraiya's letters.

"Rinnegan," he whispered, aghast at the revelation.

The legendary Eyes of Samsara. The doujutsu that hadn't been seen in the world of ninja since the time of the Sage of the Six Paths and was thought to have been lost to the sands of time. The all-powerful eyes of the man who created the ninja world and performed such miraculous deeds as modern ninja only dreamed about. Suddenly, Sarutobi wasn't so sure the enemy was a reckless, overconfident fool who'd made a fatal mistake by attacking the city.

That line of thought naturally led to another. Kabuto had not an inkling of the Rinnegan user in Akatsuki ranks when he switched sides and neither did Itachi – or perhaps the boy knew and hadn't shared the information because of the risks involved. Either way, the implication was that the knowledge was one of the errant organization's closest held secrets. And yet, the organization had chosen to use such a key asset as a Rinnegan user – much less three such individuals – underscoring the importance they placed on the attack on the Tea capital. And there was only thing important in Tea's capital to warrant anything remotely that powerful…

Without hesitation, the Third invoked the signs to selectively wipe out all memory related to the One Tail using a forbidden technique and retreated to the next building as the enemy's eyes turned on him. No good could come of any organization that had welcomed Orochimaru into their ranks gaining access to a tailed beast and the information on Shukaku's whereabouts had to be protected at all costs, he knew. The technique took effect instantaneously and Sarutobi smiled, knowing there was no counter and that the Akatsuki's primary objective in this attack was already beyond their reach. That left the question of how to deal with the Rinnegan users.

"Commander's intent has changed," he barked into the short-range radio over the command channel as his subordinates engaged the enemy more closely. "All shinobi of chuunin rank and below will assist and expedite the evacuation of noncombatants from the city. Primary mission of remaining ninja is the extermination or capture of the enemy, who are three in number with probable reinforcements on the way. The primary mission takes precedence over civilian casualties and collateral damage."

Sarutobi knew that with those commands, he'd written off the city and doomed a lot of civilians to death. To be sure, he would spend many sleepless nights agonizing over all those he'd condemned to death today, but Akatsuki could not allowed the Rinnegan. Hell, he would not trust anyone but Konoha with the Rinnegan. Moreover, the Sandaime did not fancy facing wielders of the Samsara Eyes in the wide open even with all the forces in his command in Tea, which meant he had to use the city and damn the casualties.

"Are you sure about this, Sarutobi?" the Enma-pole arm Sarutobi bore in his hand asked.

The Third nodded.

"It's just another thing to lose sleep over in a life full of decisions that kept one awake at night, Enma," he answered, gravely. Then, with a chuckle, he added, "Better I should suffer for the rest of the days – which fighting three Rinnegan users, I may not have all that many of – than have the world suffer whatever lunacy the Akatsuki are cooking up."

"If you say so," the Gorilla king answered. "I find it hard to believe anyone can have the Rinnegan, much less three or more."

"They must have somehow gotten their hands on Jiraiya's pupil and much like Konoha, been doing experiments of their own, I fear," Sarutobi replied. Then, he added in all earnest, "Though my command be killed to the last man and this city be destroyed, Konoha needs this intel. So, promise me that if it looks like I'm going to die, you'll de-summon yourself."

Enma nodded solemnly.

"I will, Old Friend."

"Good. Let's find out if the Rinnegan is all that it's hyped up to be."

xxxxx

The Nagato observed through Deva Pain's eyes as the latter stared impassively at a charging jounin and repelled the woman towards one of Animal Pain's summons. The beast opened its maw to swallow the shinobi whole, but was thwarted by a flying Root operator in his hybrid crow/human form who pulled her away at the trough of a dive. As the crow pulled up from its dive, it was hit on the wings by one of Asura Pain's missiles. It corkscrewed into the ground and crashed, though the kunoichi it'd saved landed safely and rolled away.

A scant second later, as the beast's jaws snapped shut, an explosion neatly severed its head. Bereft of its head, Animal Pain's newest summon slammed into the dirt and debris, and disappeared, kicking up a cloud of dust. Using the reduced visibility to his advantage, Human Pain moved to engage three Root operators from their flanks, but was thwarted by Sarutobi's pole arm, which stretched and tripped the Rinnegan user's avatar. An opportunistic Root operator hidden among the ruins of a building capitalized on Human Pain's fall and closing ranks with his target, speared Human Pain through the heart and was in turn crushed to a pulp by Animal Pain's new summon, which landed on him. The beast's carapace was peppered by a dozen powerful explosions a fraction of a second later that blew most of its legs into smithereens. The blasts threw the summon into a nearby building, collapsing the structure, and the beast vanished with a muted honk.

Watching the chaos of battle from afar, simultaneous approval and disgust warred within Nagato. The ruthlessness with which the Fire shinobi had attacked his avatars with scant regard for property or the lives of bystanders was all the evidence he needed to know that he'd seriously underestimated the retired Third Hokage. The defense was so good that even with six pairs of eyes and hands, half a dozen bodies, the Rinnegan and chakra levels that a tailed beast would have been jealous of, it was all he could do to not be swamped under the continuous rain of attacks launched from every-which direction at once. Worst of all, Nagato knew he'd lost the initiative, which was in some ways, the worst news of all.

xxxxx

Koi finally caught Sarutobi's attention as the latter was taking a breather and signaled him to the side.

"Tell me, Koi," the venerable oldster asked of the Root officer as they crouched behind a pile of rubble just beyond the immediate battlefield. It was now nearly twenty minutes into the battle and one sector of the city was completely ruined with who knew how many thousands of civilian casualties. But the Konoha shinobi had put the enemy completely on the back foot and the Sandaime was even beginning to entertain the notion that he and a majority of his command would survive the battle and defeat the enemy whereas earlier he'd mostly been hoping they'd achieve the latter.

"We've engaged six of the enemy so far, Sarutobi-sama," Koi replied.

"Abilities?"

"None of them share any common techniques except for the doujutsu. The first one summons, the second one absorbs ninjutsu attacks, the third one is able to push things away or pull things towards him, the four one appears to be a modified puppet, the fifth is a taijutsu specialist and the sixth seems to have powers of resurrecting the others and kills with a touch."

"Resurrection?" Sarutobi asked, not quite believing the words. It was said in the historical texts that the Rinnegan had the power over life, death and creation, but even those few who knew the Sage of the Six Paths as fact and not fiction, considered the tale mere fable. The Third had believed them exaggerations himself and was not happy to be proven wrong. If such outré ability as resurrection was truth, what else could the Rinnegan do that wasn't written down or had been lost to time?

Koi nodded.

"We took out the one that summons as well as the puppet user earlier. They were resurrected by the one I mentioned using some weird demon that swallowed their broken bodies whole and spat them out alive and kicking."

The Hokage nodded.

"Our status?"

"We've suffered casualties and the evacuation is about half done. Don't have the exact count of the dead and wounded in hand."

"Fair enough," Sarutobi conceded. Turning his attention back to the conduct of the battle, he said, "It seems clear to me that we have to take out the one that resurrects the others. Point him out to me and I'll deal with him."

Koi smiled predatorily and led the Third back to the battle. If the enemy could not resurrect themselves, he knew that this battle was as good as won. There was simply too much cover within a city and too many obstacles restricting the effectiveness of heavy hitters such as the Rinnegan user. In such circumstances, numbers and sheer guts will tell and there was no fucking shinobi in the world with more guts than Konoha's best. He pointed out Naraka Pain, who had finally reached Human Pain and was in the act of resurrecting him.

xxxxx

Deva Pain spotted the withered form of the old Hokage leap out of a pile of debris and charge Naraka Pain from the rear. Outer Path Pain wasn't yet done with resurrecting Human Pain and so, Deva and Animal Pain both moved to defend Naraka Pain from the attack.

As Animal Pain moved to provide close support to Sarutobi's target, Deva Pain levitated nails and assorted fragments of metal from the battlefield and sent them shooting them the air towards the oldster at supersonic speeds. The shrapnel ripped into the Sandaime and the effect was akin to a cannon firing grapeshot at light infantry. The Third was literally torn from limb to limb and his head exploded like a melon. His beaten corpse fell to the ground and morphed into a neatly cut wooden log that had been switched with the old Hokage.

Realizing he'd been had, Deva Pain closed ranks with Naraka Pain even as Animal Pain summoned a truly monstrous scorpion. Simultaneously, Asura and Preta Pain formed an outer, defensive barrier against other wannabe attackers. The scorpion caught sight of the real Sarutobi and tried to grab him with its claws, but the Third used another kawarimi to change his position, but did not quit his charge. The log that the scorpion subsequently snagged was rigged with explosive tags and detonated with a muffled crack that blew the critter's appendage into many pieces. As the scorpion chittered in agony, the Sandaime shot an intense stream of fire that burned through two legs on its right and sent it crashing down.

The resurrected Human Pain charged in from the flanks and kicked Sarutobi aside, buying Animal Pain time to summon something else. As he did, several dozen propane tanks flew into the clearing launched by Root operators who'd been preparing it as a special surprise in the background. No ANBU ever wasted a lesson and they'd seen the power of an air-fuel explosion take out a jinchuuriki three years back in the chuunin finals arena. At an altitude of a dozen meters, just as Deva Pain was reacting to their launch by readying to repel them, the cylinders shattered in rapid succession. He pushed the cylinders away, which spread the fuel-air mixture further and brought it into contact with sparklers a fraction of a second earlier than it would have otherwise.

A thousand pounds of propane mixed with air detonated in four separate explosions one of varying yields. Two partially ruined buildings close to the blast exploded and three Root operators caught in the fringes had their lungs scorched, exploded and then ripped out of them even as their eyes imploded on them. Deva's shield protected him, as well as Preta and Asura avatars, but Animal, Naraka, Outer Path and Human were caught in the fury of the blast and smashed into broken ruin.

The counterstrike for the devastating blow wasn't long in the coming, however, and even as the rain of assorted debris decreased in intensity, Deva Pain blew everything in a hundred yard radius with his powers of repulsion. Konoha shinobi within the affected zone suffered better than forty percent casualties in the strike. Only a few powerful ninja kept their feet while the tidal wave of destruction crushed buildings to dust and dug a huge crater around them.

"Anybody got any more propane tanks? We could sure use them. Over," some nameless Konoha jounin wheezed over the radio. In reply, a stockpile that had been caught in the fringes of Pain's attack detonated, sending a searing ball of fire, body parts, dirt and rubble into the air.

"All surviving units in the vicinity of the intruders, continue to engage the enemy closely. Draw the enemy away from the cleared zone and into the buildings. Over," Sarutobi broadcast over the general frequency. To his command staff, he said, "We need medivac for casualties as well as at least two companies of reinforcements. Don't touch the central reserve. Use the ones on evacuation detail for the purpose. The civilians are on their own from here on till we neutralize the enemy. Over and out."

His orders communicated, Sarutobi turned to face Asura Pain who was charging him. He stabbed his pole-arm into the ground and using it as a pivot, lashed with a powerful kick into his assailant's face. Firing one of his mechanical arms at the pole, Asura Pain blocked the strike with the other. Enma was tougher than the mechanical contraption, but there was enough power behind the blow to dislodge him from the ground. The Third stumbled and dropped the gorilla king, and Asura Pain threw him towards Preta Pain. The latter grabbed the Third Hokage in an immobilization hold and started to rip his victim's chakra.

Seeing the Hokage's plight, six Root operators in teams of two attacked along three axes. Deva Pain delayed two and Asura Pain intercepted two more, but the last two broke through. One of those two stabbed his ninjato into the base of Preta Pain's neck and the other chopped off his victims legs at the knees. Needless to say, Preta Pain released his hold on Sarutobi. The Sandaime's rescuers immediately shunshined out of the way before Deva Pain could launch another attack.

"Are you all right, Sarutobi-sama?" one of the two asked.

Sarutobi nodded. He was pale from the chakra loss. If Preta Pain had managed to hold on for a few more seconds, he'd have slipped into a coma.

"Yes. Order the men to isolate the mechanical one and concentrate on the other. I'll rejoin the defense in a few seconds once I've caught my breath." the Third replied, swallowing a few chakra pills. At his age, he'd pay a heavy price for their use later, but such was the cost of doing business. To his command staff, he passed his orders over the radio, "And get someone to secure the bodies of the ones we'd killed so far and dispatch them to Konoha now. We need to start our own Rinnegan research soonest."

xxxxx

The Nagato choked a curse at being frustrated once again. The primary objective of the assault on the Tea capital to capture the Third with a secondary objective of causing massive damage to the city infrastructure. The idea was to gain intel on the One Tail's whereabouts and in the process, deal a heavy blow to Fire country's morale and war effort. However, the mission, which had started swimmingly, had floundered and there was now a real possibility of defeat.

The problems facing his avatars were the crowded nature of the construction in the city, which restricted their line of sight as well as effective range of their attacks, and the vast numerical superiority of the enemy shinobi whose leaders were as just as ruthless as him. And perhaps therein lay the key. He'd been focusing on capturing the Sandaime Hokage, but it was clear now that the approach was faulty. Destroy the city and then capture Sarutobi was the way to go.

xxxxx

""What the hell?" the jounin who'd been grappling with Asura Pain cried as his opponent suddenly went still and fell. He used a earth technique to bury his erstwhile opponent deep underground and turned to the other fight where his comrades were facing the maniac with the ranged attacks.

A massive fire dragon – he could feel the heat of the flames even though he was two hundred yards away – flew into the air towards a distant speck and…

An entire block of the city imploded in a circle hundred and fifty yards in radius, catching the jounin unaware and crushing him along with a company of shinobi. A few dozen of the oldest, weakest and/or sickest civilians who'd remained or had been left behind also died with the ninja.

xxxxx

Deva Pain flew sideways to evade the dragon for the nonce and targeted another sector of the city that he could see was flush with fleeing civilians. Flesh and earth and metal and wood shattered under the power of his strike and several thousand souls simply ceased to be.

Paying no heed to his victims, he willed a water dragon into being and sent it crashing into the Third's flame dragon. The two constructs collided and exploded in a massive steam bomb, but Deva Pain had flown out of the reach of the boiling cataclysm that shrouded their destruction. By then, his powers of repulsion and attraction were ready for use again.

Ergo, he casually turned his eyes to another portion of the city and sentenced a few thousands more to death.

xxxxx

Standing on the tallest standing building within half a mile, Sarutobi glared at the sky. At such long ranges, even his most powerful attacks lost their effectiveness. He was completely powerless, thus, as the Rinnegan user destroyed his city and killed his people a few blocks at a time. Although, there was that one technique…

"We'll rig the messenger birds with explosive tags and guide them to the enemy, Sarutobi-sama," one of the nearby shinobi suggested, espying the look on the Third's face.

"No, it'll be too late," the Sandaime replied, calmly. Since the enemy had changed the nature of the game and the objective of his tactics unattainable, there was nothing to be gained in allowing the destruction of the city. He began making hand signs to summon the Death God and continued in the same voice on the radio, "The bodies of the Rinnegan user must be sent to Konoha at all costs. Command devolves to whoever's the surviving senior most officer of the Ninja garrison. Save as many of my people as possible. Over and out."

The Death God's ghostly form ripped through the Third's chest and…

xxxxx

The Nagato felt the kami's touch on his avatar first and then on himself. For a brief second, he felt the mind of Sarutobi and knew that the other at last understood the truth. With contemptuous ease, he thwarted the Death God's grab at his own soul, but knew that the apparition couldn't be banished so long as Sarutobi was alive. Well, it wasn't as if the Third had to be alive to read his mind and considering the fact that the truth about the Six Paths of Pain had to be preserved at any cost until it could no longer matter in the world they were shaping…

xxxxx

"Enma, tell them we got everything wrong," Sarutobi shouted. In the brief moment Nagato's and his minds touched – an unchronicled side effect of the forbidden technique he was using or some complication caused by Nagato's strange use of reanimated human puppets – he knew the true nature of his enemy and what was about to happen to him. "None of them are real an…"

A ceramic plate sliced through the Third's neck as if it were butter and his head pinwheeled through the air, but instead of crashing to the ground, it shot high into the air. His principle dead, the Death God vanished and Roughly five seconds later, the area that Sarutobi had stood on became the epicenter of another of Pain's attacks.

xxxxx

The western watch tower was a smoking ruin. The crackling flames of the wooden support beams reached for the sky even as the dying screams of some poor soul caught in the blaze faded away.

As with the tower, the main gate of the city walls lay in ruins. The section of the wall around the gates was blown inward with pieces of dying and dead men, donkeys, camels strewn among the debris. Here was a man with a fist-sized hole where his face was caved in by a rock from the explosion. There was a woman moaning piteously as she tried in vain to pull out the piece of wheel that pinned her to the ground. And there was a donkey exhaling bright right foam in great gasps as it breathed its last from a collapsed ribcage.

Uzumaki Naruto stood a hundred yards away from the carnage with Sasuke and Sakura flanking him. All three were dirty and grimy with clothes splatted by the blood of their enemies. And some three hundred yards from their position were the rapidly cooling corpses of a battalion of Wind samurai reinforced by a few Sand shinobi who'd dared challenge their approach to the city.

"Citizens of this shitty hellhole of a city situated in the middle of the fucking desert," Naruto addressed the city, amplifying his voice with chakra so as to be heard by everyone within the walls, "who are ruled by 'he who blows men on his knees and fucks donkeys and camels in the dark of the night.' Hear me. I'm Uzumaki 'I fucked your mom and diddled you wife and sister' Naruto, Chuunin of Konohagakure in the glorious Land of Fire. And I would like nothing better than to emasculate your men, sell your women into abject slavery and take your children to Hi no Kuni to be raised as one of ours because your treacherous Daimyo has betrayed my people by allying himself with those mangy dogs from Lightning.

"Fortunately for you, my benevolent liege, the Daimyo of Hi no Kuni has decided that I should spare your worthless hides and only give into my baser desires if all other means fail. Therefore, I require your Daimyo to walk his hairy, smelly behind out of your city and meet my colleagues and I where we stand outside the city so that there may be peace between our people. The rest of you will hand over your Daimyo's family from whom we will select three hostages as surety against further treachery. We also expect hostages from all leading noble houses towards the latter. You have thirty minutes to act. Choose well because you really do not want me stepping into these walls for I swear by god, I'll burn this festering eyesore down and salt the ground."

xxxxx

Author's notes:

Please leave reviews. I hope I did Sarutobi justice here. The points I bore in mind when I wrote this chapter were: Pain's battle in Konoha in canon, Sarutobi's great age, his having led Konoha through several wars, Stalingrad…

I also hope that the battle for the city was good. I have skipped Team 7's initial assault on Suna capital for streamlining purposes. Anyways, Fire country has suffered a terrible loss in Tea and is on the brink of an audacious victory in Wind. Stay tuned for the next chapter!

Pain's avatars:

Animal = summons

Asura = puppet

Preta = absorption

Human = taijutsu, ripping out souls

Naraka = resurrection using outer path

Outer Path = ability to detect lies, healing

Deva = gravity


	28. A Ruse of War AKA A Daimyo Conned

The Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 25: A Ruse of War AKA A Daimyo Conned

Disclaimer: Wish the rest of the world were as stoic as the Japanese.

Flanked by two advisors, but no guards, the Daimyo of Wind sat sullenly at the table while Sakura read him the riot act.

"This is the second instance that Wind country has made war against Hi no Kuni without a formal declaration of war. While you were at the helm, need I remind you? During the prior invasion three years back, you argued that the action was the late Kazekage's fault and decried his actions as seditious. Fire country was willing to buy that story then because we were desirous of peace and we valued our friendship with Kaze no Kuni, but it is well documented that Suna went along with Orochimaru's plans because you hamstrung their economy for your own petty reasons. The Noble Daimyo of Hi no Kuni overlooked that crucial factum because of the longstanding relationship between our nations.

"But the events of the past couple of months and your collusion with foreign powers to weaken my country have convinced our decision makers otherwise. There is no shadow of doubt in the halls of power that Hi no Kuni's policy's towards Kaze no Kuni need revisiting. The purpose of this meeting today is to lay down the terms of our new relationship," Sakura spoke serenely.

The Daimyo and his advisors remained silent. They could argue the Leaf Chuunin's opening statement, but the capital of their domain lay defenseless and the girl's three companions looked ready to kill.

"Our first order of business is the formal surrender of Kaze no Kuni to Fire country and the standing down of your forces. The surrender will be unconditional, of course."

"Preposterous!" the Daimyo's advisor and confidante, Shogun Hosokawa Yoriyuki stated in an offended tone. "By what right do you call upon the surrender of our nation to you and your companions."

"By right of having the power to reduce your stinking capital to dust and grime," Naruto replied offhandedly.

"Please, Danshaku Yoriyuki," Sakura drawled, addressing the Daimyo's friend, but holding up a finger to silence the blonde. She wanted Naruto by her side to cow the opposition, but she did not want him opening his mouth. Addressing the Daimyo, she continued, "Let us not harbor delusions at this table. The gates of your city are rent asunder, and you and your people are defenseless. This is sufficient reason to surrender per the natural law of war. If you are inclined to debate the point and deny historical precedents, we can burn down your capital and then start this meeting anew. It really doesn't make much of a difference to my team and I. The same won't be true for you, of course. Under the circumstances, we'll require every surviving member of your extended clan within the walls to be stoned to death as one of our conditions for the surrender of Kaze no Kuni."

Yoriyuki glared daggers at the pink-tressed chunnin and would have exchanged words, but the Daimyo stopped him with a gesture.

"What do you require?" he asked.

"As I'd stated, the surrender of Kaze no Kuni, Daimyo. You'll also abdicate your throne. You needn't worry about the safety and security of your family, however. You'll move your clan to Hi no Kuni where you'll be amply protected from external threats. Wiser heads among the nobles will be raised to your throne to ensure stability of Wind country, which is in Fire country's best interest."

"In essence, you plan to replace me with a puppet."

"If you're inclined to be crass, let us examine the facts in detail. You initiated this unjust war, Lord Daimyo. And apart from Orochimaru, you were the responsible party for the previous altercation as far as my superiors are concerned. It is clear that allowing you to remain in power is foolhardy from Hi no Kuni's standpoint. There is no doubt here that you will continue your treacherous behavior in the future. So, yes, we want to replace you with someone else. We want peace on our borders. And we will continue our search until we're satisfied the replacement isn't an idiot unlike his predecessor."

Naruto choked back a laugh at Sakura's statement. The Wind party goggled. This wasn't how you conducted negotiations. Not if you wanted to reach a compromise. And that was the rub. Konoha's killers were not looking for one.

"I…"

"Tut tut, Milord. Not one word out of your mouth arguing against our primary demand. On this point, we're immoveable. Your removal is the sine qua non for peace today. If you're inclined to doubt, we'll mount your head on a pike to demonstrate our intransigence on the subject. So, do you yield?"

"We will require some time to consider your proposition," the Daimyo replied with great dignity.

Sakura looked ready to argue, but Sasuke touched her shoulder. She hesitated a moment and then nodded.

"You have thirty minutes."

The Daimyo and his associates left the table for the walls of the capital a half a mile away. Once they were out of earshot, Sakura turned her attention to Sasuke.

"Why did you do that? You know those bastards are simply trying to mark time until the reinforcements they'd called for arrive."

Sasuke pointed at Naruto, who had a message scroll in his hands given him by one of his toad friends. The blonde's expression turned pale as he read through the missive.

xxxx

The demands of the war had kept Kakashi at his desk into the wee hours of the morning. With all the decisions that he had to make made, he turned in at the morning twilight for some much deserved rest. An hour into his sleep, his aide woke him up.

The news he heard was terrible. The renegade Akasuki was working with the enemies of Hi no Kuni. They had the Eyes of Samsara. The capital of Tea destroyed. The redoubtable Sandaime murdered. Thousands of civilians massacred pitilessly. Hundreds of precious shinobi and samurai killed. And last, but not least, the Daimyo missing in action. Likely killed with the rest of the capital's inhabitants.

The implications were much more terrible. There weren't enough forces in Tea anymore to fight the resistance. Much money was going to be sunk in Tea to take care of the refugees and to rebuild the economy. And far from becoming a net supplier of men for Hi no Kuni's armed forces, precious trained units would have to be sent to Tea to control the situation there. But those very same units were needed on the Wind border, the Grass border, the Rice border and of course, the high seas to ensure Water did not take advantage of the opportunity. From a strategic standpoint, the war that Fire had spent so many years preparing for was come and it was almost certain to overwhelm his nation.

Furthermore, if the Daimyo were dead, there was also the issue of succession. The man had no known issues from his loins and though the line of succession, there were three claimants with the power, prestige and following to lay claim to the throne. The ensuing civil war would leave Hi no Kuni vulnerable to all comers and seal his nation's fate.

The future of Fire country had never been darker.

And on the personal front, the death of the Sandaime and the decimation of the forces he commanded meant that Kakashi's three children were sure to be buried in an unmarked grave somewhere…

xxxx

"What's the matter, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

The blonde handed his teammate the scroll and signaling Sasuke, started for the Wind continent.

"What's going on?" Sasuke asked quietly, keeping stride with his friend.

"They killed the Sandaime and nuked the Tea capital, Sasuke," Naruto choked back.

"Who did?"

"Sensei says Akatsuki."

Sakura took a deep breath. Akatsuki would have had to go through the entire Tea contingent before they got to Sarutobi.

"Casualties?" she asked. She would mourn the kind old man later. Now she wanted estimates on how the losses in Tea would affect the war.

"Massive. Reading between the lines, I'd say that we'd lost thirty percent or better of the forces in the capital. The Daimyo is also MIA – most probably KIA – and the city's been reduced to a series of craters. Whoever Akatsuki sent after the city wanted maximum civilian casualties."

"Was there any message from Kakashi-sensei for we three? Nevermind, I'll find out myself," Sasuke spoke, unrolling the scroll. "Danzo-sama's to pull back to Hi no Kuni's borders and resist the forces of Kaze no Kuni with the forces in hand. There will be no reinforcements. We're attached to Danzo-sama's command for the duration of this emergency."

"Which is why we have to end this siege now," Naruto nodded at the others. "If we can have peace on this border, we can shift the forces deployed on this front to the others."

"Provided we can be sure Kaze no Kuni won't backstab us at the earliest opportunity," Sakura appended.

"Yes, there is that," Naruto replied, "But we know the solution for that problem, don't we?"

Sasuke snorted.

"Yes, we do."

xxxxx

"What is the meaning of this?" Yoriyuki asked, facing the advancing Leaf nin with his hand on his sword.

"The situation has changed," Sakura replied, "We come to apprise you of it and to issue new terms."

"How has the situation changed?" the Daimyo asked.

"That is of no importance," Sakura waved him off. "What is important is that you will remain in power and you will surrender Kaze no Kuni. The terms of the surrender will be negotiated at a later date, but we want five hostages each from the immediate families of all nobles and leading merchant houses within your capital in the next thirty minutes."

"And in return, we get?"

"A truce that goes immediately into effect. You will compose messages to your units and we will send them to their commanders."

"What of Danzo?"

"We'll send messages to Danzo-sama regarding your surrender."

"That's not enough."

"Is your capital burned to ashes enough?" Sakura asked pleasantly.

"If Danzo stays, it doesn't matter how many hostages you take. Not all my nobles – not even a majority – are in my capital right now and I expect many of them will go to war so long as that man is on Kaze no Kuni soil. You want me to surrender and rule, I will surrender, but to rule, that man must be gone."

"Even if we burn your capital?"

The Daimyo nodded.

Sakura looked deep in thought for a minute. The Daimyo's words were the partial truth, of course. Yes, the Daimyo's loyal adherents wanted Danzo dead, but there was a lot of anger at the ruler of Kaze no Kuni as well. It took some doing to ruin a stable nation as badly as Wind had been and most anyone would point the accusing fingers at their Daimyo.

"Very well. Troop deployment on that level is not for me to negotiate. I'll send a message to the Hokage with your reasons, but he, the Daimyo or their designated representative have to make the decision. We'll have the hostages now, however. They should motivate you to convince your nobles to keep the peace until things are finalized."

"And if your Hokage or the Daimyo or their representative doesn't agree that Danzo needs to be withdrawn from Kaze no Kuni?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we reach it. The hostages?"

"We need some show of goodwill on your part," the Daimyo insisted.

"And you have it. You don't see my colleagues burning your city down."

xxxx

An hour and a half later…

"We're late," Sakura said to her companions.

Naruto hawked and spat on the ground.

"Yeah, we are. Nothing we can do about it. At least the hostages are assembled now. The Suna reinforcements won't be here in force for another till sunset, so we're good."

"I suppose. What do you think's going to happen when the Wind Daimyo realizes he fell for our ruse."

"Hopefully, he won't have a heart attack. We need the bastard in power until things settle down on the other fronts," Sasuke murmured.

"Anything we got to do?"

"Danzo-sama's been mailed. He'll leave a portion of his forces with his Wind allies to safeguard them from any backlash from the Daimyo and pull back the majority of his forces to Fire using alternate channels of extraction. Kakashi-sensei's also been apprised of the Kaze no Kuni situation and he'll be expecting the hostages soon."

"What about us? Do we deliver the hostages personally or let the toads do it for us?" Naruto asked.

"Our orders are to attach ourselves to Danzo-sama's command," Sasuke said offhandedly, pretending not to notice the interest the oldster's lapdog took in the conversation, "but there's nothing that says we can't deliver the hostages ourselves via toad express and report to our commander later."

Sakura nodded.

"Works for me."

"And what of our dear, beloved Daimyo, the asshole who rules Kaze no Kuni?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto snorted and Sakura guffawed.

"Isn't it obvious? While camel-sodomizer has wet dreams about how he'd have his troops intercept us before we ever cross the border, we'll be debriefing in Konohagakure with our hostages safe and sound. Imagine the look on his face when the great plotter finds out he's been outsmarted by teenagers," the blonde said.

"That gives a warm and fuzzy feeling," Sakura said, grinning maniacally.

"I bet it does," Naruto replied. Turning to the gathered noble personages, he addressed them, "All right, folks, gather around in a semi-circle."

The hostages shuffled into a condensed mass.

"Right. I guess you all know you're to be hostages in Konohagakure. Now, I know that many of you dread the prospect, but the majority of the denizens of Hidden Leaf are ordinary folks just like you. You'll be well-treated and you certainly won't be abused by anyone because that'd reflect badly on Hi no Kuni and it might threaten the fragile peace between our nations. So, cheer up. Once the situation improves, we'll repatriate you to Wind," Sasuke informed the crowd.

xxxx

As the dark-haired youth spoke, Naruto summoned a number of toads and shared the plan with them. He had to promise them some hefty bribes – just as humans did not like being inside a toad's belly, toad's did not like swallowing a man just to puke him out alive later – that Kakashi-sensei would pay, but after hemming and hawing for a couple of minutes, his allies agreed.

"We don't like being used like this, big brother Naruto," Gama Ryuu, the eldest brother in the ranks of the summoned said. "First, old man Jiraiya wanted us to transport a shitload of strangers and now you do."

"I'm sorry, little brother," Naruto replied, "I wouldn't do us unless the circumstances were unavoidable."

"My brothers and I will do it this once because you asked, but I'm going to raise this up with Boss. We aren't beasts of burden. We toads aren't to be treated in so demeaning a manner. If you or old man Jiraya want to repeat this in the future, you have to incur the fees beforehand."

"I understand. I and Jiraiya-sensei meet with the Boss at the earliest to discuss the terms."

"Good."

"Now, I'm going to split this crowd into teams of thirty and ask a single team to climb into the mouth of a brother. I'm sure they'll refuse. When they do, grab them and swallow them. Then we'll depart."

"Yes, big brother."

Naruto nodded and turned to address the crowd, an expectant smile on his face. He was going to enjoy the look on the Daimyo's face when his family and relatives were swallowed whole.

xxxx

Kakashi smiled benignly at the angry complaints of the guests from Wind. He had never been more proud of his students than he was at that moment. For the first time in history, a team of three had forced the surrender of one of the Five Elemental nations.

The Hokage shifted slightly to avoid the stench as the stink of a couple of dozen nobles puking upwind and chuckled. The day had started out as a nightmare and the Daimyo of Fire was now confirmed dead. Future that had looked so bleak in the morn was less baleful with the surrender of Wind and he even thought he could see the hint of daybreak on the far horizon. He would ensure a peaceful succession to the throne and then deal with the other threats. In fact, the germ of an operation to deal with Grass was already forming in his mind.

_We shall win this war yet. The Will of Fire shall not be quenched so long as there are leaves to lend strength to the flames._

xxxx

Author's note:

Sorry about the long delay. When I wasn't mired in RL or work, I was too lazy to write. Still, new chapter's up and the story's not abandoned. Oh, and my wife gave birth to a baby girl last month. So, congratulations are in order. ^_^

Shortest chapter yet. But it brings the Wind campaign to a close. Mostly. The peace, as Sasuke informed the hostages, is fragile – especially as the Daimyo does not know the disaster that befell Hi no Kuni in Tea, but it'll hold. Wind will be split into three camps – the nobles whose families are hostages in Konoha, the nobles who want Danzo dead and the nobles who worked against the Daimyo – and they cannot risk an external war while a civil war threatens. And remember, they've also lost the Nibi, which means Cloud is going to be pissed at them. So, the prospect of Fire as a friend again isn't going to look so bad so long as Danzo is kept out of sight.

Now, as to whether Fire can avoid a civil war… you'll just have to wait for future chapters, won't you? The body count is going to shoot skywards again next chapter and the war's going to edge towards an end. I'll leave you to guess how.

Last, I thought I'll share some stats about TBLP. I find it curious. There are now more than 400k views of the story – all chapters combined. It's on 165 communities, has ~780 reviews and has ~1050 story alerts and favorites against it. So, thanks to all the readers out there.


	29. The Best Laid Plans

The Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 26: The Best Laid Plans…

Disclaimer: When someone argues the weight of scientific consensus as support, remind them a century and a half back, scientific consensus was for ether as a medium for propagation of light, and scarcely half a century back, scientific consensus was that plate tectonics was fallacy. ^_^

It was a day of death and destruction. It was a day of vengeance and decision. It was a day when a handful of people dismantled the monstrous plans of the rogue Akatsuki and turned the world on its head.

On that day, on Fire's southern front, in the land of Tea, scarcely two days had passed since the brutal Akatsuki assault had turned the densely populated capital into a nightmarish landscape of craters. On the eastern front, the shadow war in Rice between Kumo and Konoha over control of Rice's sprawling rice paddies had turned into a moderate intensity conflict with both sides ramping up their commitment. On the north-eastern front, Grass and Rock advanced into Fire as fast as they could march their units. On the northern front, the corridors of power in Wind were in tumult as news of the Tea disaster reached the ears of their rulers.

On that day, in Pain's lair, Uchiha Madara and Uzumaki Nagato were chagrined to discover that Hiruzen Sarutobi had carried the secret of the shukaku to his grave. Neither man liked the feeling of being outmaneuvered. And both hated the thought that they were back to square one with regards to their plans. Madara particularly did not like the intelligence about Kaze no Kuni's capitulation to Hi no Kuni.

On the day, in Konohagakure…

xxxxx

"We will start with a briefing on the attack on Tea and the situation in other theatres of the war before moving on to discuss the situation at succession crisis at home and our response to the destruction of the Tea capital," Kakashi addressed his gathered lieutenants, the which heads of departments, council members, select jounin.

"Right," Inoichi said, rising to his feet. "I'm sure you've read the reports my people prepared on the attack on the Tea capital. Reports are still coming in, but the situation is very bad. Too many dead, too many wounded, too many businesses vanished with no way for their creditors to recoup the losses… too much everything, in fact. Still, there is a silver lining to the disaster. The Tea populace is absolutely livid at our enemies for the destruction they'd wrought and the story of the Sandaime's heroic death defending the city has increased approval of Hi no Kuni to an all-time high. Tea has never been a better partisan of Hi no Kuni."

"That's a very good thing," Tsunade said. "It means we can drawdown the forces in Tea to a minimum and reinforce the front with those troops. It's even better considering that we were worried about finding reinforcements to combat the insurgency in Tea before this meeting."

Inoichi nodded.

"We can drawdown the troops to a limited extent, yes. There'll be some banditry from insurgents turned to crime, but it shouldn't be all that much. Certainly, most insurgents are bandits in all but name at this point. The militia reinforced with small packets of shinobi will be able to handle the problem."

"So how many units can we transfer to the fronts?" Shikaku asked.

"Immediately? Not more than two battalions. That's just the shinobi, of course. The samurai regulars will be sorely needed to maintain the law and order situation for the next few months. And in four to six months, four regiments, I opine."

"That's two battalions I didn't have when I walked into this meeting," Shikaku riposted. "Fair enough."

"Moving on, Kumo are increasing their troop strength in Rice. Our intel says that they're committing a reinforced division with a regiment of shinobi to the front. With our troops spread out to the back of hell and beyond, we can't counter their move for at least three weeks. And frankly, Rice is pretty low on our priority list at this time. Our strategic posture is defense on that front.

"The Iwa-Kusa penetration towards our capital takes highest priority and we'll be sending the units from Tea to shore up the defenses. The situation there is very fluid. Jiraiya-sama's unit has really been the only thing keeping the enemy from capitalizing on their initial gains, but he and his men have got to be running ragged by now, what with having to contend with a numerically vastly superior enemy, two jinchuuriki and Iwa's strongest operators by themselves. It'd be a complete disaster if they're overwhelmed."

"You think the two battalions from Tea won't be enough?" Kakashi asked.

Inoichi turned to Shikaku.

"Not even close, Godaime-sama," the strategist answered. "We estimate manpower requirements as three divisions of samurai and two regiments of shinobi. And we need those on the front today. We don't have them."

"What do we have and what are our options?" Kakashi asked, looking around the table. "I'm not in favor of such 'in your face, come and get it' battles those numbers imply. And all this is assuming that Akatsuki won't do a repeat of Tea capital on our lines on the Iwa front or on our cities."

"There is that," Inoichi nodded agreement. Hi no Kuni had to do something before the enemy's ability to wipe entire cities off the face of the earth sapped the morale of the army and the nation. That something had to equally flashy and preferably involve the destruction of a stronghold. It must also be punishment equal in magnitude to the Tea capital. But how to punish an enemy that did not lay claim to territory and used roving, secretive cells of two or less?

"So, what do we do?" Kakashi asked again.

"We've given the subject some thought and we believe what your students accomplished in Wind will go a long way towards troop morale, but that leaves the problem of Akatsuki doing an encore elsewhere. And frankly, we don't know what to do about that because we don't have a similar capability."

Kakashi's lips pursed in thought. There were certain things that not even the Hokage's advisors knew. Was it time to open one of those compartments? Doing so would put his children in danger. On the otherhand, not doing so would imperil the nation…

"Assume we do for the purpose of this discussion," he said softly.

Heads lifted up at the suggestion.

"If we assume that, then the question then becomes where and when to use the weapon. The second half of the question is very easy to answer. Damn soon. As to the first part, the ideal target would be Akatsuki HQ, but so far as we're aware, the organization is small, highly dispersed and we have zero penetration into their ranks," the Head of Intelligence replied, lying adroitly about the last fact. Konoha had a mole within Akatsuki, but the knowledge of the spy's existence was limited to four people – three now that Sarutobi was dead. Truth was, aside from the one-upmanship factor over the other villages, the sleeper agent wasn't terribly useful and had never been used for two reasons. First, because there was no mechanism to pass information to and from the spy in a timely manner and second, because any action taken using actionable intelligence passed by the asset would compromise the source's identity to Akatsuki's leaders and that'd be all she wrote for the spy.

"So what do we do?" Tsunade asked.

"We can't influence Akatsuki directly," Shikaku replied, taking over from Inoichi, "but assuming we have such a capability as demonstrated in Tea, we can force Akatsuki's controllers to restrain the rogue organization."

"You kill our cities, we kill yours?" the medic-nin asked.

"Precisely."

"Can we do this?" Tsunade asked Kakashi directly.

"That assumption is the basis of this discussion."

"No, Kakashi, you know what I mean. Do we have this capability?"

Kakashi's lips pursed in thought. But what other choice did he have?

"Yes, we do."

"How soon can we deploy the asset?" Shikaku asked. It did not take a genius to deduce the identity of Kakashi's secret weapon.

"If the decision is made, we can strike within the next couple of days I shouldn't wonder."

"And we've already seen ample demonstration reach is not a problem," Shikaku appended, meeting Kakashi's gaze headon. If he had any doubts, there could be none now. Uzumaki Naruto.

Kakashi nodded.

"Yes."

"So, who do we hit and how hard do we hurt them?"

"I favor Iwa myself," Tsunade said aloud. Her hatred for Rock was well known. Iwa had claimed the lives of her brother and fiancée, and they deserved all they got.

"I think not," Shikaku said. "Who'd restrain Akatsuki if we take out the Iwa command structure? Certainly not Kusa's leaders."

"Kusa then?" Inoichi asked.

Shikaku nodded.

"Yep. It'd punish Kusa, warn Iwa to back off, destabilize the invasion's supply and the Iwa-Kusa border, and force Iwa to restrain Akatsuki."

Kakashi smiled.

"I like it. Who knows, if we do it right, we might even trigger a civil war within their ranks."

"We have to leave a calling card," Inoichi observed.

"Yeah, we want the world to know we did it and since we're going to be inserting a small team, it's possible their origins would be overlooked in the chaos following our strike."

Kakashi's smile turned sinister.

"I'm sure we can do that."

"Moving on," Inoichi spoke, continuing his report, "it looks increasingly likely that the succession crisis for the Daimyo throne isn't going to be settled peacefully. We have intercepts that have all four major contenders sending feelers out to sympathizers and acquaintances for support, and requests from three of the four their known loyalists for armed partisans. Two of the four have also left the capital for their strongholds and all four are gathering household troops for a showdown."

"All the good units – even the household troops - are on the fronts. The ones that are on the rear are garrison troopers, REMFs and pretenders," Tsunade shook her head. "What do they hope to accomplish with those jokers?"

"I'd be laughing with you if we aren't seeing some disquiet among units of the household troops, actually," Inoichi replied.

"How bad is the situation getting?"

"We've had to execute one commandant and about a dozen samurai so far in five separate incidents after fighting broke out between members of different households. That is officially. Unofficially, we're hearing the NCOs have their hands full with fights and disturbances. We estimate better than 95% of the cases are being dealt with using non-judicial punishments."

"That is a large and troubling number," Shikaku observed.

"Indeed. What can we do about this? We can't have units on the front at each other's throats in the middle of a war with Iwa and Kumo," Kakashi asked.

"Solve the succession crisis before things take a turn for the worse," Inoichi replied, blandly.

"By working with the samurai and choosing a successor ourselves, you mean?"

"Preferably, yes."

"Do we have the time? Will the samurai lords cooperate?"

"The samurai lords are uneasy about the current state of affairs. My office has had feelers from about a quarter of them on the subject."

"That is good news, but the other problem is all four major contenders are scumbags and chiselers unfit to manage a pig sty, much less lead Fire country. I think the samurai lords would agree with me on that."

Inoichi smiled.

"In point of fact, a good third of the feelers suggested the same thing."

"Problems of errant noblemen with delusions of grandeur can be dealt with easily and often has been in the past," Shikaku pointed out, "The cure is typically a hundred grams of steel applied at the proper time and space."

Tsunade chuckled and shook her head at Shikaku.

"For a lazy bum, you sure are a bloodthirsty SOB," she said. "Not that I disagree with your suggested cure, mind."

"Without an acceptable heir to the throne, that does not solve the problem and may exacerbate it," Kakashi pointed out mildly. "And none of the lords will bear to see anyone else from their ranks elevated to the post of Daimyo over themselves."

"Perhaps we should let the situation evolve a bit further then and see how things pan out?" Shikaku suggested.

"Why? I can only see it getting worse as time goes by," Inoichi replied.

"The waters are too muddy now. Perhaps a proper candidate will emerge, or the four will choke and die. Who knows, pigs may even learn to fly. But mostly, I want us to lay down the law after we burn Grass to the ground. We'll have breathing room afterwards to do whatever needs to be done."

"The last part sounds reasonable," Kakashi conceded. "I think we have covered the issues to everyone's satisfaction for the day. Let's call in my students and apprise them of the situation, shall we?"

xxxxx

Naruto lay on the grass in a clearing, cloud watching. He was flanked by Sasuke and Sakura. They were supposed to report to the Hokage's office for orders in another half an hour, but the present was for relaxation.

"You guys took over my favorite cloud watching spot," Shikamaru complained, joining them.

"Don't see your name written anywhere, genius-man," Sakura murmured. She had her eyes closed as she spoke.

"Ha! Ha! Shuffle a little to the left, you three. I want to talk to you."

One of Sakura's eyes opened.

"About what?"

Shikamaru shrugged.

"Move you two," Sakura murmured. To the Nara, she said, "Talk."

"First, I have to thank you three for saving Fire's collective butt in Wind."

"We were doing our jobs. If you want to be properly grateful, I recommend a barrel of sake and an all you can eat meal for the three of us," Naruto replied. "There are other ways to show your gratitude, but you aren't the proper sex for that."

"You've got it. The sake and the meal, I mean. You'll have to look elsewhere to have your ashes hauled." Silence. "I'm sorry about the Sandaime. I know you three were very close to him."

"Don't be. He went out the way he wanted. But if we get our hands on the bastard who got him…" Naruto let the sentence hang. Shikamaru's imagination was healthy enough to fill in the blanks.

"I don't doubt it," he agreed. He suspected he'd feel the same way if Asuma were killed.

Naruto sat up in a huff.

"See, Shika, this is what I don't understand," he said loudly. "There was no call to nuke the city after they killed the Third. And there was no reason for Akatsuki to go after him either. I don't understand those goat-fuckers."

Shikamaru remained silent for the better part of a minute while he organized his thoughts and composed his reply. Sakura and Sasuke rose up and joined Naruto as they waited.

"I wish I could tell you I understand them, Naruto," he said, finally. "To tell the truth, I think they are murderous vermin in need of extermination and I don't think that characterization is all that removed from reality."

Sasuke snorted.

"But you see, I also think Akatsuki are a symptom of a far greater disease than the disease themselves."

"What do you mean?" the Uchiha asked.

"Consider the world we live in. Our governments are military dictatorships with power hoarded in the hands of a few. Everyone's looking out for themselves and their clan, and they place loyalty to the clan and to the close family over loyalty to the nation."

"That's the way things are, Shika. You are loyal to your blood because push comes to shove, they're the most likely to support you and guard your back," Sakura replied.

The Nara nodded.

"Yes. But look at the corollary. When we trust our families and to a certain extent, our friends, we don't trust anyone else outside the two groups. As example, consider how techniques and such are hoarded by clans."

"So?" Sasuke asked. He could see being loyal to the Uchiha crest and to his team and teachers. Beyond that, while he was loyal to Konoha, that loyalty wasn't written in stone and only existed because his teachers and teammates were committed to the ideal of the Hidden Village.

"The point is, so long as most people's ultimate loyalty is to the family and not to their nation, there's no reason to trust or respect the due process of the law unless the judge is a member of your family and every reason to circumvent such institutions. That way is death in the long run because ultimately, your descendants will only do well when the country does well. Further, because of the properties of chakra, there is a fundamental inequality in our society. It is the rare individual who has enough chakra to use as a weapon and that individual has a natural advantage over everyone else. Throw in the various bloodlines and you have further stratification in society.

"Now, into this mélange, factor in that clan and family loyalty is supreme to all and you get a world where people with the most power abuse the hell out of the system and damn the ones disadvantaged by accident of birth. Where, in fact, the system is skewed to favor those sons and daughters who wield chakra."

Shikamaru looked at his audience. Naruto had the look of revelation on his face and Sakura was focused on his words with rapt attention. Sasuke looked contemplative.

"So, getting back to the point, Naruto, I think an organization such as the Akatsuki is inevitable in our world. Why shouldn't there be rogues who covet and whose supreme loyalty is to power? Why shouldn't there be people who aren't afraid to use power to stomp on others when our cultural ethos lauds the pursuit of power and the plundering of the weak and the powerless?

"In simple terms, we chakra users are the guardians of the Elemental Nations for good or bad. But the problem with having a guardian without oversight is can be summarized with the question 'quis custodiet ipsos custodes?'

"So, Naruto, this war was inevitable as was Sandaime's death. Sometimes in the dead of night when I'm feeling depressed and thinking dark thoughts, I wonder whether the Yondaime Mizukage was the sanest person in the world, though not nearly sane enough. Because you see, though his solution was murderous and monstrous in intent in the short term, it did not address the question of we chakra wielders, who are also part of the problem. Not just the bloodline clans that he tried to make extinct."

Sasuke snorted.

"You're an idiot, Shika. And I think suicidal. If we go by your words, the single best thing we could do for the betterment of the world would be to die en masse."

"I did not say that, Sasuke. This is a subject that I've dedicated a great deal of thought. As best I can see it, the only way to establish the foundations for lasting peace is to kill all chakra wielders and kill all children who show the aptitude for however long the men live on this world or to somehow render chakra use irrelevant to warfare."

Naruto nodded. Jiraiya was always going on about 'the cycle of hatred' during their sessions, but listening to Shikamaru, the blonde felt that the sannin had missed the forest for the trees. It was clear to Naruto that 'the cycle of hatred' was just another symptom as the Akatsuki.

"I see. Thanks, Shika. You've given me a lot to think about. We'll continue this conversation some other time, but right now, we've got a meeting with the Hokage."

The Nara nodded.

"See you around."

"Yes."

xxxxx

Unknown location…

Uchiha Madara stared at the unmarked grave. He was running late for a meeting with Nagato and a select few others in Akatsuki, but this was important. There were things that not even his closest associates in Akatsuki were privy and whenever he needed to get his mad out, he came here.

"You know the world is screwed up. It's never going to change. I wish you were alive to save the world make things right, but you aren't. So, I'm trying to shoulder your burden. But it's hard. The Senju stand in the way as always, the vermin. I know they don't know better and I shouldn't hate them, but they have done a pretty good job of ruining your life's work and mine. I wish I had taken out the slippery swine as I did the Uchiha traitors.

"They hid the One-Tail and we don't know where it's hidden. And now, they have the Two-tail and there's always our personal nemesis, the Kyuubi and its Senju master. We need those two tailed beasts to execute the plan successfully. Watch over me and bless our blessings so that I can bring our goals to fruition. I know we can still pull this off. We need just a bit of luck and everything will work out fine."

xxxxx

"How bad is it?" Jiraiya asked.

The kunoichi blinked away her wearily. She was dirty and looked like some chew toy that'd been used hard and thrown away, which given the battle she'd survived wasn't all that far from the truth.

"Bad enough. We lost two dead and one wounded. The jinchuuriki were waiting for us in ambush and we walked right into the trap. We were lucky to get out alive."

"You lost them, right?"

"They did not bother with a chase. I suspect they wanted us to spread the world."

"They would. The news of their presence is enough to force me to make their raiding forces stronger, which reduces the number of units we can have on the field and weakens the overall effectiveness of our force."

"What do we do?" asked Jiraiya's aide pro tem. Given the circumstances, that was just a glorified way of saying walking wounded.

"We try to draw them into a trap ourselves. It's going to take a couple of days to setup because we're going to need to concentrate our troops. Effective immediately, the raids on the supply trains cease until we've seen off the jinchuuriki."

"Yes, Sir. The front?"

"The front will have to hold without us for a little while. Because the way I see it, they can hold a little while as we handle the problem or they can hold forever while we push up daisies."

xxxxx

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were shown into the Hokage's office by the Godaime's assistant. Kakashi wasn't alone. Inoichi, Shikaku and Tsunade were with him.

"Godaime-sama, Haruno, Uzumaki and Uchiha reporting as ordered," Sakura snapped a crispy salute. Naruto and Sasuke saluted as well, though the form did not bear thinking.

Kakashi shook his head.

"That was pitiful," he told them.

"Sorry, Hokage-sama," Naruto said seriously.

"No, you're not," Kakashi retorted hotly. Then, in a quieter voice, he said, "I have another mission for you three. It's going to be hard and you're going to pay the price, but there's no other option."

Naruto straightened.

"Godaime-sama?"

"Please kill everyone in Kusa capital for me down to the cats and dogs."

xxxxx

Author's notes:

So, Madara isn't Madara in canon? WTF. Good thing I keep the plot loose or I couldn't have integrated that new plot thread into TBLP. **shakes head**

One of the reasons for the delay of this chapter was because I wanted to wait until 'Madara's' identity was revealed, but then I thought, hey, let's wing it. Ergo, here's the chapter. This is one of the most crucial chapters in the story for those who're interested in such things. It is certainly important to the story blurb because this chapter contains the seeds of how Naruto's really going to screw up Madara's plans.

As for those that are wondering about Naruto being ordered to destroy a city, well, what do you expect Fire country to do? Surrender? Because that was the only other option after Nagato demonstrated the ability to destroy a city. Now, there'll be a standoff akin to our world's MAD regime.

Next chapter, Kusa in Flames.

Keep reading!


	30. Destroyer of Worlds

The Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 27: Destroyer of Worlds

Disclaimer: I'd never have believed that people in the US steal telephone wires for copper. But apparently, they do. In the First world. God, the world gets shittier by the day.

"Pease kill everyone in Grass down to the cats and dogs."

Team 7 stared, blank looks etched on their faces.

"Sensei?" Sakura asked.

"I want you three to go down to Grass and reprise against their capital for what happened in Tea," Kakashi explained patiently.

"That's tens of thousands of people," Sasuke murmured aloud. Gazing around the room, he said, "Sensei, we're your students. We've done everything you've ever asked us to do. But this… destroying an entire city… this doesn't feel right. You're talking about primary targets being civilians and not soldiers or military infrastructure. And it won't even hurt Akatsuki as we've no proof that Kusa's been working with them. We'd be stooping to Akatsuki's level if we do that and we're better than that. Isn't there something else we can do?"

"I wish there were, Sasuke. I wish I didn't have to ask this of Naruto, but we have no other choice other than surrender."

"I understand you're asking Naruto to do this because you think that we need to demonstrate deterrence to avoid a repeat of Tea capital, sensei," spoke Sakura, trying to reason with her superiors, "but aren't you assuming that they can do an encore? We have no proof that assumption is right."

"We can't very well wait until they nuke another city for your proof, Sakura," Tsunade responded.

"We have to assume they have the capability," Shikaku appended. "It is the only reasonable assumption. Else, why would they have wasted it on Tea capital?"

"But…" Sakura begun, but stopped as Naruto held up his hand to silence her.

Sasuke and Sakura turned to face the blonde. He looked at them with a little smile shown on his face.

"Thanks for protecting me, guys, but I agree with sensei. I know you do too."

Sasuke snorted.

"He's asking you to become the greatest mass murderer in the history of the elemental nations, Naruto," he said. There were others who had stamped papers and sent nations at war, killing far more, but no one would personally have killed so many as Naruto would if he carried out the Godaime's request. "Tea capital had some time to evacuate. Kusa won't. Kakashi-sensei didn't order you, idiot. He can't order you to do something like this. Refuse."

"Sasuke is correct on that count, Naruto. I'm not going to order you to do something like this," Kakashi said.

"But if I don't, the war is going to be lost, isn't it?" Naruto asked in a quiet voice.

"Most probably, yes. I think there's a remote possibility that we can get Iwa, Kumo and even Akatsuki to the negotiating table, but we'll have to surrender and they'll expect massive concessions from us."

"Then surrender," Sasuke spoke with conviction. Threatening to burn a city down was one thing, but actually doing it? Sasuke wasn't that sort of madman and neither was his teammates.

"No, Sasuke. Iwa has driven too deep into our territory and are looking at outright victory if we don't hold them for the next few months. There is no reason for them to come to the negotiation table at this juncture," Shikaku retorted.

Naruto laid a hand of Sasuke's shoulder.

"You know they're right, Sasuke. Let it drop." To Kakashi, his eyes roving at the people seated behind the table, he said with a sad smile, "Jinchuuriki, the power of human sacrifice, sensei. Always and forever. So, what's one more sacrifice when there have been so many others?"

"I'm sorry, Naruto," Kakashi replied, blinking away his tears. Signing the order was well and good, but the Godaime knew the price the execution would extract from his student. He would not have wished it on his worst enemy, but circumstances forced him to inflict such a fate on his children.

"I know you are, sensei, but needs must when the devil drives." A pause. "Can we win if I do this? I don't see the point of so much blood on my hand otherwise."

Kakashi turned to Tsunade.

"If we can hold for four months, we'll be in a position to win or negotiate a peace," she said in a somber voice. "Provided the other side doesn't burn out more of our cities, there're weapons we've developed that we can deploy on the Iwa front in four months. With these new weapons and the reinforcements from the Kaze no Kuni and Tea fronts, we should be able to push them back to the border and beyond."

"Tsunade and Kabuto will give the three of you a tour," Kakashi ordered. "Naruto can give us his decision once that is done."

xxxxx

"Can't we destroy Konoha like you did Tea?" Deidara asked Pain before the other assembled Akatsuki members.

Pain had called for an All Team meeting with the four surviving teams to discuss strategy and to finalize the plan to recruit two new members. Discussion on strategy had led to talk of the destruction of Tea and the fallout. Deidara, the explosives crazed maniac, wanted in on the action and was firmly for destroying more cities in the Hi no Kuni sphere of influence.

Tobi hopped up and down. Madara had recently joined the organization overtly under the assumed persona of a powerful, brain-damaged idiot.

"Tobi's a good boy, but sempai likes to kill puppies and kittens. Bad sempai."

Deidara glared hatred and disgust at the orange masked idiot.

"Enough," Pain intervened. "We destroyed Tea to weaken Hi no Kuni and to destroy any chance for a negotiated peace between Fire, Earth and Lightning. Further weakening Fire by destroying their infrastructure is against that purpose."

"So we do nothing?" Deidara asked, looking around.

"Yes. Soon enough, Fire will be defeated. Earth and Lightning will turn on each other over the spoils. We'll wait until the hiding places of the One- and Two-tail become evident and capture them. Until then, we will improve our penetration of the villages and do nothing except making good the losses of Hidan and Kakuzu. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Leader."

xxxxx

"What is this?" Naruto asked, pointing at a metal contraption mounted on a table in the center of the lab. Kabuto's and Tsunade's assistants had the machine open and were tinkering with it.

"This is the future of war," Kabuto, ever the showman, waved with a flourish.

"Okay…"

"You don't believe me?" the medic-nin asked.

"Yep." Sakura nodded.

"What does it do?" Sasuke asked.

"It's a machine that mass produces seals."

"In other words, a printer. We've had that for a long time, you know," Sakura said. "And they definitely have not revolutionized warfare."

"What Sakura says. Printers are not a revolution. A shinobi is needed to expend the chakra to charge the printed seals and that has always been the second bottleneck with the application of seals in war. Because no matter how fast you produce seals, they can't be used unless they're charged and you need shinobi to charge them," Naruto instructed.

"Quite. With normal printers, that's the case. But this is different," Kabuto defended.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"How so? Do tell."

"This printer is mechanical engineering meets traditional fuinjutsu meets Seals of Power."

"Huh?"

"This seals that are printed with this printer is different, you see. This printer has modified templates of the explosive seal, the genjutsu resistance seal and the chakra sensing seal. The modifications include a limited chakra storage mechanism that is rechargeable and a charging seal that draws ambient chakra to fill the chakra reservoir."

Naruto, who understood the technical difficulties that had been overcome by the research team, stared lustily at the printer. Here was the Holy Grail of fuinjutsu that overcame the two traditional limitations of sealing – production rate and chakra charge. No longer would seal use be bottlenecked by the speed at which seal masters could write seals and the chakra capacity of the bearer to charge them.

"How did you get this done?" he asked, flabbergasted.

"Slowly, painfully, and with a lot of trial, explosions, error and more explosions," Kabuto replied, smiling.

Team 7 burst into laughter.

"I wish I had been there to see the research in process," Naruto said.

"As I understand it, you had more important things to do. Like capturing jinchuuriki, toppling unfriendly regimes, fighting insurgents and the like."

"Screw all that," Naruto said, emphatically. "This is the stuff of history. Jiraiya-sensei is going to cream in his pants when he hears about this. I almost did."

Sakura slapped Naruto on the back of his head.

"Cut the vulgarity, you idiot."

"Aww! Sakura-chan, you know I'm excited about seals. Is all."

"I know." To Kabuto, she said, "I can see the printer's uses in war, but is it really a game-changer?"

"You know those anti-personnel fragmentation bombs that you ANBU favor is forever constrained by the production rates of explosive seals. This machine overcomes that in one go," Kabuto explained.

"It'd work if the charging rate is fast enough, I suppose," Sakura conceded.

"What's the charging rate, by the way?" Sasuke asked.

Kabuto had the decency to look embarrassed.

"Seven weeks. And we don't ever see that coming down without increasing the tag size by a factor of eight."

"That slow? Explain again how exactly this stuff is going to revolutionize seal use in warfare?" Sakura asked pointedly.

Naruto glared at the researcher. Kabuto had lied and this wasn't the Holy Grail, after all.

"Well, a regular seal master can produce a maximum of 100 tags a day, right?" Kabuto asked.

Team 7 nodded. That was the world average except for a handful of freaks like Naruto. The blonde used kage bunshin to draw as many clones as he wanted. Was the time when there'd been a mighty interdepartmental fight between the ops and logistics at the height of the Tea insurgency over which department got their hands on him.

"This machine can print 8000 a day every day," Kabuto said, proudly.

"Yeah, that'd change things, all right," Sakura murmured, shock evident in her voice. "I guess that means logistics won't be rationing the use of the bombs all that much anymore."

"It's not just shinobi. We've installed a release mechanism for the chakra that doesn't need chakra adepts to activate it – and don't even ask me how hard that was. I swear I aged a couple of decades before we overcame that technical hurdles."

"You mean anyone can use these tags?"

"Anyone from the lowest recruit to the highest adept."

"Wow."

"So I guess you'll be productionizing this printer in two months?" Sasuke asked, remembering Tsunade's four month milestone for winning the war.

Kabuto chuckled and shook his head.

"No, no, no. Production line for the seals started two weeks back and we've had three operational for the last week. Unfortunately, they have a tendency to breakdown frequently – teething problems, you understand – and that one over there is under repair. There are plans to build a fourth and a fifth so that we'll have availability levels of sixty-plus percent.

"In two months, we'll have enough bombs for one division of samurai at projected rate of use plus thirty percent. In three, we'll have enough for two and a half divisions."

Naruto looked to his friends.

"I guess that means the mission to Kusa is go."

Sasuke and Sakura reluctantly nodded.

xxxxx

"Itachi. Kisame."

The two Akatsuki members stepped forward.

"Yes, Leader," Itachi asked. He was the de facto leader of their little team. Kisame preferred to stay in the background except when there was murdering to be done.

"I want your team to go to Kusa. You will handle the pickup from our agent at the regular drop point. You will also track the Toad Sannin's group that is operating behind Iwa lines and observe them in action. The situation is fluid so I'm wary of giving further orders as that might rob you of the flexibility of response. So, I'll give you your mission objectives and constraints. Improvement of supply situation for Iwa's invasion forces in Hi no Kuni. Mission constraints: If Iwa can handle the problem themselves, then don't bother with intervention. Else, intervene the hell out of the situation. Bear in mind that we don't want Jiraiya's group utterly destroyed, however."

Itachi nodded.

"It'll be done."

xxxxx

"I'm sorry again, Naruto," Kakashi said. He had his hands on Naruto's shoulders and was looking into the blonde's eyes as he spoke.

"Wasn't a thing you could do about this, sensei," Naruto replied, solemnly. "My life and my sacred honor for my country and my village."

Kakashi nodded and hugged the blondes.

"Good luck," he addressed all three members of Team 7. "Remember your instructions. We need the world to know who's responsible for Kusa's destruction."

"Yes, sensei," Sakura said, not quite glaring at her teacher. She wanted to choke the Godaime for what he'd asked off Naruto.

Naruto silently summoned a toad and crawled into its wide open mouth. Sasuke and Sakura followed him without a word or a look back at their teacher.

Kakashi sighed once the toad had jumped into the well and vanished. He hoped his students would find it in their hearts to forgive him for the thing, but there wasn't much chance for it. God, how he cursed the Sandaime and Jiraiya for burdening him with the thankless job of leading the village!

xxxxx

"Well, here we are," Naruto said, gesturing at the countryside and pointing east. "Kusagakure is six hours that way."

"Couldn't you have jumped in closer?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto thanked his toad friend with a gift of chocolate. After the summon vanished, he turned to his friends.

"I could have, but I'm not in a hurry to earn the title of mass murdering bastard, Uke."

"You could still refuse the mission, Naruto."

"And how many of our friends and countrymen will die if I do, Sakura?"

"But…"

"We've had this conversation before and this is the only sure way." A pause. "God, I wish I didn't have to do it, but there ain't a choice."

"There's a choice, Naruto," Sasuke commented. "But since you're too stubborn and pigheaded to change your mind, you're going to carry out Kakashi-sensei's mad order."

"Yeah, I suppose I am. Let's go."

As they sprinted toward their objective, Sakura kept glancing worriedly at her friend. _Damn Kakashi-sensei for making Naruto do this!_

xxxxx

She waited until their first break before she tried once more. Naruto had his clones out patrolling and guarding the approaches to their campsite that afternoon, and Team 7 was as reasonably secure in enemy country as possible.

"Naruto."

Naruto looked up, but Sasuke interjected himself between them.

"If you're going to try again to make him quit, Sakura, forget it," the Uchiha said. "He's not going to change his mind."

"That doesn't mean I can't try," she retorted hotly. Then, in a quieter, despairing voice, "What else can I do, Sasuke? This is not something where you shrug your shoulders, buckle down and live with."

"I know," the Uchiha replied, radiating calm and meeting her challenge, "but he's not going to stop and I don't see any point in trying to persuade him otherwise. I understand you're angry because he has to bear this burden alone and you won't. So am I."

Sakura remained silent and petulant.

"So let's ensure he won't have to bear all the burden. Let's support him in every way we can. Okay?"

Silence.

"Are you with me?" Sasuke tried again.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm with you. And okay."

Sasuke nodded and turned to Naruto.

"So, how are we going to do this?" he asked.

"I hadn't thought that far ahead," the blonde confessed. "I'd avoided thinking that far ahead actually."

"You know charging in without a plan will get you killed, Naruto. Kusagakure's going to be crawling with Kusa and Iwa shinobi as it's the invasion's major supply and staging point on this side of the border."

Naruto stared.

"I know," he mumbled.

Sakura shook her head and pulled out the Kusagakure map they'd been provided.

"Idiot. I guess it's up to Sasuke and I to keep you alive since you can't be bothered."

Sasuke nodded.

"You're going to need to be airborne or stand at a high enough point to target the city center," he said, tapping three hills on the map bordering the eastern and southern borders of the city. "That means we'll have to take one of these three hills overlooking the city."

"I prefer the eastern one. It's thousand two hundred feet above ground level and is located two kilometers from the city border. Further, it's furthest from Konoha's borders and the approach from the city is difficult. Will give us time to assault, take over, set up defense and let Naruto do his thing."

"All valid points," Sasuke agreed, "but see, the approach from our side isn't all that good either."

"So?" Sakura asked. "The way I see it, it actually works out in our favor."

"How?"

"The guards won't be watching this face too closely even if they're alert. Intelligence from before the war had it that duty posts the hills were assigned to unruly troops as punishment. We have to remember that the first rate units will be on the frontline with the invasion force. The guards on the mountain will be third rate garritroopers with all the baggage it implies."

"Point."

"Once we reach the base of the hill, you and I will lead from the assault from the front. Naruto will bring up the rear. As soon as the top is cleared, we'll find the tallest point with a clear line of sight to the city and fortify while Naruto does his thing."

"You're going to need ten minutes, aren't you, Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto nodded.

"On average, yes."

"Better make it twenty minutes then. Wiser to have a buffer than not," Sasuke said.

"Think we can handle the rabble for twenty minutes, Sasuke?" Sakura asked, flint in her eyes.

"Shouldn't be a problem."

"Let's eat and rest. We're two hours from the capital now. If we start at around 0130 hrs in the night, we should have plenty of time to reach the target and carry out our plan."

xxxxx

The hill loomed before Team 7. Clouds obscured the stars and the moon, and it was utterly dark. Ordinary eyes would have been mostly blind, but Sasuke had his sharingan and Sakura had her own special techniques for seeing in the dark. Naruto had something just as good in his sage techniques.

Sakura held up her hand three fingers extended and closed them one by them. When she'd formed a fist, she brought it down and Team 7 assaulted up the slopes, nimbly navigating the hazard posed by assorted rocks, boulders, trees, shrubs and whatnot. And though they could have reached the top of the hill in a couple of minutes if they'd went as fast as they could under present conditions, they took their time and paced their climb so as to be as fresh as possible when they reached the summit.

Sasuke reached the hilltop first. He crouched behind a waist high boulder, waiting for the kunoichi to join him. He scanned the area with his eyes, scanning for enemy patrols or guards at their posts. Naruto and Sakura joined him as he conducted his search.

"Report," Sakura whispered, taking position directly behind the Uchiha.

Sasuke shook his head in wonder.

"I don't believe it. There're ten of them and they're all asleep. There're no guards or patrols. God save us all from garritroopers."

"Be glad theirs are as bad as ours," Sakura retorted. It was the horrible state of readiness of garrison troops on the Kusa border that had allowed Iwa-Kusa alliance to advance so far so fast during their initial attack. To Naruto, she said, "Give us a couple of minutes and we'll clear the rabble. Come once one of us give the all clear signal."

Naruto nodded and his teammates sprung into action.

xxxxx

Jiraiya finished reading the message from Konoha, anger mounting. He broke the scroll over his knee, threw it down and stomped on it for good measure.

"That miserable SOB!" he seethed. "I'm going to wring his neck when I get back to Konoha."

"Jiraiya-sama?" the XO asked.

The Toad Sannin ground his teeth and took a deep breath to calm himself. This wasn't the place to lose one's temper. Not in the middle of enemy territory with his subordinates around. But he promised himself he would have words with Kakashi as soon as he got back.

"I'm all right, XO," he said. "Just received a bit of unpalatable news from home, is all."

"Yes, Sir."

"Gather the troops. There's a change of orders. We won't be engaging the jinchuuriki, after all."

"Sir?"

"Something else is being done to deal with the situation on this front in a more permanent manner," Jiraiya explained, stooping to pick up the scroll. He lit the document with a fire technique and watched it intently as it burned to ash.

"Yes, Sir."

"Bring me a map. We're going to change our disposition and reorient for engaging troops retreating from the front."

The XO looked blankly.

"Our beloved Godaime," Jiraiya bit out his explanation, "has sent an unit to assault and inflict massive damages on Kusagakure. That scroll was an advisory instructing us of our new mission. We're going to be ambushing the enemy troops as they retreat to their rear."

"I'll get right on it, Sir."

"Thank you. Dismissed," Jiraiya waved. There would be hell to pay once he got back to Konoha, but until then, there was the present and the immediate future to fight and survive.

xxxxx

The ten Kusa troops had died quietly without ever waking up from their sleep. The genjutsu that Sakura had laid on them had been so powerful that none had raised a cry as the two Leaf nin methodically slit their throats one by one.

Afterwards, it was a simple matter of dumping two of the bodies and the mattresses from their bunks. Sasuke had carried the cheap wooden cots up to the roof and set them up on the wall overlooking the city.

"You're set, Naruto," Sasuke announced.

"Better move some distance then," the blonde replied, focused on his task. He pulled the tools of this job out. The first scroll one had one kilogram of common salt. The second scroll had specially made rubber ball filled with water with a hundred liters of heavy water (D2O). The third scroll was filled with seals that Naruto needed to control the process while he was powering the weapon.

Sasuke and Sakura retreated about a hundred yards away to Naruto's left and right. They'd been around the blonde while he was creating the technique and knew well enough to keep the hell away.

Naruto verified they were both safely away and then started the long drawn out process by creating the seven clones he'd need to control and aim the bomb. The clones arranged the salt in the designated circle on the third scroll and placed the water ball on top. Then, they took their positions.

Naruto sat before the control scroll, placed both his hands on the proper positions and started pumping chakra. His mind was focused inward in meditation. The procedure was dangerous enough without a wandering attention to complicate things. Fortunately, he had a lot more control and understanding of the process than in the old days when he'd have slit his own throat rather than use a clone to power the process.

xxxxx

"What the fuck is that?" one of the guards on the western gate of Kusagakure's wall asked his team leader, pointing at the bright flashes of blue, green, pink and other assorted colors on top of Feito hill.

The jounin shrugged.

"Damned if I know, Datto. The assholes on duty are probably having a party and setting things on fire or playing with their chakra. They've got Nasu with them today and god knows what runs through that screwup's mind most days."

"You think so, Sir?" Datto asked uncertainly.

His commander shrugged again.

"Could be. Still, I better get on the radio and ask those goons to quit while they're ahead. If this gets back to the watch commander, they're for it."

"Yes, Sir."

xxxxx

The theory of matter energy equivalence was well established by theoretical scientists for over four decades. But no one had ever bothered to explore this particular avenue of research because there was no way to capitalize on its implications either militarily or economically.

That hadn't stopped Naruto, however. His interest in explosives had been piqued by the power of the improvised explosive device he'd used against Suna's jinchuuriki. Further, he had good teachers in Jiraiya, Kabuto, Tsunade and Sandaime who'd guided and channeled his curiosity into productive avenues.

Still, knowledge alone isn't enough. Theory needs a knowledge implemented in a machine – or a weapon, in this specific instance – to be put into practice. Mechanics wasn't Naruto's forte and anyways, the Elemental Nations lacked the mechanical knowhow to create a device that used fusion. But Naruto knew seals and he had chakra in plenty. Most important of all, he had the use of kage bunshin to learn by trial and error.

And there had been a hell of a lot of errors. Two hundred square kilometers of territory was pockmarked with craters caused by his failures and was pretty much uninhabitable. But where others would have failed and been vaporized by their failures, he had lived to learn from his mistakes and he had succeeded. Beyond his wildest imagination and harnessed the power of atoms.

xxxxx

"Sir, I don't think it's a party," Datto informed his superior. The latter worthy was fiddling with the radio and cursing undisciplined, drunken idiots not paying attention to their job.

"Sir?" Datto repeated.

"Yes?" the jounin turned to Datto and followed his subrodinate's hand, which was pointed towards the hill.

The psychedelic light show had stopped. In it's place, there was one single light powerful enough to light the night sky and shine like a day on the hilltop.

"What the…"

xxxxx

The idea was simple. A high enough pressure – and the temperature regime in such an environment – or just plain high enough temperature is enough to cause fusion in hydrogen. Naruto had first mixed the water with salt, centrifuged the mixed in rubber and dust particles. Then, he'd ionized and heated the mass with fire and lightning contained in a gigantic rasengan to hydrolyze the water molecules. He'd followed that with compression to increase the pressure massively and fed energy to heat up the cocktail.

Control – loads and loads of it – was required to hold the plasma together and for that, there were six clones and the seal array. Energy leaked, even so, and the discharged ions had been the source of the pretty lights that had spooked Datto.

But finally, the process was complete.

Naruto slowly stood up. He wasn't needed to feed energy anymore and he wanted as far from the bomb as he could.

"Sasuke, Sakura, behind the hill. This is going to be messy," he shouted, even as he ran down the slope.

Once all three were safely hid – or so they hoped – Naruto shouted to his clones to shoot the bomb. The seventh clone stepped forward, aimed and shot the ball at Kusagakure. This was arguably the most dangerous step of the process, because the ball of plasma was on the edge of fusion and barely under control.

To Naruto's relief, containment did not fail.

xxxxx

Approximately five hundred yards from ground level and two hundred and third yards from the city center, the ball destabilized with a temperature spike as the containment field collapsed. Ten grams of matter were converted into energy that was the equivalent of approximately 215 kilotons of TNT.

Kusa had a diameter between four and eight kilometers. The center of the city ceased to exist. The rest of the city did not fare much better as the explosion started a firestorm that within the day saw the practically every building burned to ashes. The buildings had been proofed against fires with seals, of course, but the temperature of the explosion as well as the firestorm were above the threshold of civilian seals and everything that could burn, burned.

The death toll was sky high and trending upwards.

xxxxx

Sasuke and Sakura worked at the base of the hill, etching a 'Konoha owned Kusa's ass' message on the hillside that was phrased differently. Naruto didn't join them. He was lost in his own nightmares.

"I wish I had died than cause this obscenity," Naruto whispered as he watched the city burn on his knees from the building's rooftop. "Oh, I wish I had never been born."

xxxxx

Author's notes:

A soldier is not a mass murderer. A soldier is not a mass murderer. A soldier is not a mass murderer.

Repeat that. This chapter was easy to write, but I'm sure that I'll get plenty of complaints about Team 7 being OOC as well as the science. But while I can see Team 7 killing soldiers and enemy sympathizers, I can't see them killing a city for kicks. Can you? If you can, I have failed as a writer.

As to the science, Naruto canon seems to follow the Lovecraftian rhyme:

"That is not dead which can eternal lie

And with strange eons, even death may die."

At least, Naruto's weapon has some theoretical basis. Is all I can say. ^_^; Still, if anyone can verify the yield, I'd be much obliged. I did some rough calculation to get that value, but was too lazy to verify it. The lucky person has the option of being redshirted or brownshirted in my novel (and god knows when I'll finish it.)

Keep reading! Who knows, there might be more chapters in the very near future. :)

Update: Thanks to The Unicorn for pointing out a logical disconnect in the story (how the hell did the houses in Kusa end up without fireproof seals?) and well as spotting two other errors or oversights. They're all corrected.


	31. Aftermath

The Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 28: Aftermath

Disclaimer: Two days early, but what the heck! Happy new year, everyone.

"Naruto."

The blonde sat silently on one of the cots staring blankly. Flies buzzed around the entrance of the building even as a swarm filled the interior. They'd been attracted to the corpses inside. Sasuke put a hand on his shoulder and gently shook him.

"Dawn's here, Naruto. We have to leave."

Naruto continued to stare and said nothing. Sasuke bit his lips. Naruto had collapsed on the building roof where he'd fired his technique soon after the explosion. The figurative blood on his hands had overcome him and he'd shut down. He hadn't spoken or responded to anything since and had to be carried down by his teammates.

"We have to leave and in the state he's in, we're not going to be using Toad," the Uchiha said, gesturing at his friend.

"But where do we go from here?" Sakura asked.

"Not Konoha for sure. I don't want to see Kakashi-sensei right now."

Sakura nodded, rolling out a map of the Elemental nations.

"Quite. That leaves linking up with Jiraiya-sensei. We'll have to track him down behind enemy lines in the middle of a freaking war."

"At least, we know his unit's general Area of Operations."

"That's well over a thousand square kilometers of area," Sakura pointed out. "We'd better start. You carry him for the first leg. I don't think he'll walk."

"Be alert. Every SOB within fifty miles is making a beeline for Kusa right now."

"Which is why you're going to carry him. We need to put some distance between ourselves and the city."

xxxxx

Jiraiya saw the sky light up in the early hours of the morning and knew the thing was done. He hadn't slept well and had gotten up early to gaze at the northern skies. Sparing a prayer to the gods to keep his godson and his friends alive, he set about composing a message for Kakashi. The Godaime needed to be informed of the successful detonation – and hopefully, the destruction of Kusa – at the earliest.

"Did you see that light up north? I wonder what that was about," someone spoke loudly enough to reach Jiraiya's ears.

Jiraiya ignored the exchange and focused on his writing. He would call a meeting and inform his team of the light's significance after sunrise. Right now, his people needed their sleep.

xxxxx

"Kusa's destroyed," Zetsu informed Pain, Konan and Madara. "The city blew up in a massive explosion."

"Destroyed?" Konan asked, shooting looks at the other two. "What happened?"

"I don't know. The Zetsu that was observing the city could not tell."

"How much of the city survives?" Madara asked. Then, he posed the far more important question from his point of view, "What is the status of the invasion's supply depot?"

If Kusa was destroyed, then Nagato's actions in Tea would be for naught. The balance would once again shift to the middle and that wasn't good for his end goals.

"The city's totaled. Very few houses were left standing and mostly on the periphery and there's a crater where the center of the city used to be. The depot was caught in the explosion as well. It's not outright destroyed, but there'd be significant loss of inventory."

"We have to assume it was an attack until proven otherwise," Nagato said.

"Who has the capability to do such a thing?" Konan asked. "Other than Akatsuki, I mean."

"Konoha's the obvious suspect. Kusa was very high on their shit list and if they had the capability, they would want a counterdemonstration to Tea," Madara pointed out.

"Was it tailed-beast bomb?" Nagato asked.

"If it had been, the Zetsu would have felt the chakra. He said he was lucky to have been facing away from the blast when it happened or he would have been blinded," Zetsu shrugged.

"Provided you were close enough," Nagato corrected.

"What manner of weapon works on that scale without using chakra?" Madara wondered aloud. "Are we wrong in assuming Konoha's involved somehow?"

"Let's not be too quick to rule out Leaf's involvement and let's leave the mechanism of the explosion aside for the present. Zetsu, where was your observation post?"

"There's a hill about five kilometers west of the city walls. The clone was using that since it overlooked road used to move supplies and shinobi to the depot from Iwa."

"Was anyone else on your hill?"

"The Kusa garrison was, of course. There was no one else."

"Are there any other high grounds close to the city? If this were an attack, it was either a suicide run or someone had to have struck from somewhere high to be sure of hitting the city center."

"There are three hills closer to the city that overlook another set of roads that connect to Hi no Kuni. All hills have observation posts on them, though the quality of the garrisons is very bad."

"Anything else that could be serve the purpose?"

"No."

"Have the other scout the three hills. If this was a deliberate attack, there should have traces left behind."

"What if the attack had come from the air?" Konan asked.

"You suspect Iwa," Madara stated.

"No, I don't think they have anything to gain from wiping out Kusa at this juncture. Maybe after Konoha had been defeated, but not before. But they do have that flying technique and the attack may have been launched from the air."

"That is a remote possibility. Those techniques are closely guarded."

"But what one man invents, another can discover. Someone else may have figured out a way to replicate it."

"True," Nagato agreed, "but if they were using flight and Zetsu hadn't caught them, then there's no hope we'll find the culprit."

"Still, I don't think we should close the door on a natural calamity," Madara stated.

"I quite agree. What are the usual suspects?"

"Volcano and asteroid," Konan enumerated.

"If it was a volcano, it was unlike any other and it's possible it was an asteroid," Zetsu noted.

Konan shot a look at Nagato.

"Asteroids could be natural or artificial."

"You don't mean another Rinnegan user?" Nagato asked, looking disturbed. It sounded impossible, but what had happened once could happen again. So, why shouldn't there be another Rinnegan user? Only, if there was one and that person was acting against Akatsuki, things were going to get real dicey real fast.

"Why not?" Konan asked.

"Why not indeed," Madara punctuated. Was there another path to Rinnegan than through the Sharingan? Then, shaking his head, he said, "This is getting us nowhere."

"Let us not get ahead of ourselves here," Zetsu cautioned. "Let my other self complete his search and report."

"Yes. Let's."

xxxxx

"Naruto's technique seems to have worked," Shikaku mused. The Godaime's war council had gathered for a meeting and Kakashi had shared Jiraiya's communiqué with them.

"It would be helpful if we had confirmation from Naruto," Tsunade said.

Kakashi nodded, absentmindedly.

"Anything on your mind, Kakashi?" the medic-nin asked.

"I was thinking about my children. No reason why we shouldn't have received their message."

"You're worried something went wrong?"

"Yeah. I'm worried."

"I'm sure nothing's happened to them, Kakashi. Even if something has, you can't help them from here. Best thing to do is to put them out of your mind for now. We have work to do and a war to oversee."

Kakashi sighed and leaned back on his chair.

"You're correct, of course. Where were we?"

"I was saying it would be better if we had confirmation from Naruto before we proceed," Tsunade said.

"Do we need the confirmation?" Shikaku asked.

Inoichi looked at his friend quizzically.

"Don't we?"

"We can tell from Jiraiya-sama's report that the weapon is extremely powerful. It must be for the detonation to be seen so far away. It appears to be more powerful than any tailed-beast bomb we've ever heard. It's clearly more powerful than the technique the Rinnegan user used on Tea capital," the Nara strategist explained. "So who cares if Kusa survived the explosion or not? We have demonstrated that we have the ability to strike deep within enemy territory and that our weapon is to be feared like no other."

"You make some very valid points," Kakashi agreed. He still looked dull, but was no longer lost in his worries.

"But we need Naruto to repeat it. And we appear to have lost contact with him," Inoichi pointed out, shooting Kakashi an apologetic look. Addressing the Godaime specifically, he said, "I'm sorry, Hokage-sama. I'm sure he's fine, but we have to consider the worst."

Kakashi nodded, numbly.

"We'd be in a hopeless position if he's lost," Tsunade noted, shooting an apology at Kakashi herself.

Shikaku shook his head and leaned forward to rest his hands on the desk.

"Not necessarily," he said, "We'd be in a hopeless position if Naruto's lost and it got out we can't replicate his technique."

Inoichi nodded.

"You suggest we should posture as if we could."

"Yes. But not too strongly."

"Of course."

"What do you suggest we should do, Shikaku?" Tsunade asked.

"We need to compose a message to Iwa and send it at the earliest. Let us avoid talking about the plight of Kusagakure since we don't have confirmation that the technique was used over the city. We will instead focus on the power of our weapon. Let them assume it was a demonstration if the weapon had missed the city or let them tremble in fear at the destruction of that well defended city in one strike. Either way, let them know terror. We will categorically state that the technique is reusable and we are very much prepared to use on however many cities we need to if they dare strike against another one of ours."

"Sounds good. We'll add that we expect Iwa to exert control over Akatsuki to our formal communication to the Tsuchikage and his Daimyo."

"Yes. And once we get confirmation of the attack as well as Kusagakure's fate, we'll go public with our own people, proclaiming this as a great victory for the cause of justice, liberty and freedom."

"We should send messengers to the claimants to the Daimyo throne in Hi no Kuni as well. A subtle threat to them to mend their ways," Inoichi added.

"I like that," Ibiki said, speaking for the first time in the meeting and sporting a ghastly smile on his face. "I really, really like that."

xxxxx

"Tsuchikage-sama, there's an emergency."

It was late afternoon, but Sandaime Tsuchikage Onoki looked up from his work, sleep written on his face. He'd put in another all nighter yesterday, to cope with the ever increasing amounts of administrative paperwork and assimilate the reports from the battlefront. As a result, he was tired, bleary-eyed and cranky.

"What is it?" he asked with a yawn.

"It's Kusagakure, Sir," the aide said, sounding pensive.

The Tsuchikage's shoulders slumped. As an enemy, Grass had been a pain in Iwa's ass for as long as he could remember. One would expect the relationship and disposition to improve once Stone and Grass became friends. In this case, one would be wrong. Kusa, the ally, was an even bigger pain in the ass with daily demands for money, resources and whatnot. Frequently, Onoki wondered how Konoha had tolerated the pompous nation for so long.

"What are they complaining about now? Have their ambassador wait while I'm freshening up. Tell him I'm in a meeting in the meanwhile."

"It's not their ambassador, Tsuchikage-sama."

"Then who is it?"

"No one. There's a high priority message from Kusagakure."

Onoki shook his head. He needed to get another aide and fire this one for not getting to the point.

"Well, get on with it."

"Kusagakure's gone, Sir."

"What do you mean 'gone'?"

"The city's destroyed in a gigantic explosion. So are most of our supplies stockpiled on the outskirts for the war effort."

The Tsuchikage blinked.

"Was there an attack?"

"The message mentions no alarm. Our people at the scene suspect an accident or sabotage."

The Tsuchikage worried a tooth and feeling thirsty, poured himself a glass of water. He downed it in one gulp and turned to his aide.

"Give me the message," he said, stretching out his arm.

"Yes, Sir," the aide said, offering the decoded scroll.

A minute passed as the Sandaime Tsukikage read and digested the very sparse report.

"So, to summarize this," he waved the scroll, "we don't know what happened to cause the explosion – the magnitude of which seems to have been many orders more than a bijumari – and we don't know whether foul play is involved. Our people have started an investigation, but know nothing for certain. They're also assisting the survivors fight the firestorm that's raging through the ruins of the city. The death toll appears to be even greater than Tea capital's and the optimistic estimation is that more than half the supplies stored at our depot were lost. Precious little of the city survives so we've lost troops who'd been pulled from the frontline and were being billeted in hotels and apartments there."

"Yes, Sir."

"The city was supposed to be proofed against fire with suppressant seals. How then this firestorm?"

"Don't know, Sir. I'll ask our people to investigate it."

"Good. Send a message to the senior officer on the ground to do an inventory of our supplies and submit a report on the viability of conducting offensive operations or defending our acquisitions within Fire. In the meanwhile, send a movement alert to our troops on the frontline with orders to hold and not mount any further offensive operations until further notice. If we can supply the invasion, we can stand down later, but if not, I'd like to get our boys out ASAP.

The aide nodded and took note.

"Cancel all meetings for the day. Summon the Kusagakure ambassador. And the council. We'll have a strategy meeting in three hours. Hopefully, by that time, we'll have a clearer picture of the situation. I'll be resting and don't want to be disturbed in the meanwhile."

"Yes, Sir."

"Dismissed."

xxxxx

Itachi and Kisame had crossed the border and infiltrated Kusa when they received the call from Akatsuki HQ. They found a quiet spot and called home with their rings, which were marvels of the highest order of sealing techniques.

_Leader-sama, Itachi and Kisame reporting as ordered,_ Itachi thought.

Momentarily, Pain entered the conversation. So did Zetsu.

_Itachi. Kisame. Your mission has changed._

_ What are the new mission parameters?_

_ There's been an explosion over Kusagakure. Zetsu is investigating. You're to rendezvous with him and lend him your assistance. Further, you will try to ascertain the nature of the weapon used and report back._

_ Can't Kusa shinobi investigate? Why are we handholding them? _Kisame thought, irritably. He had better things to do than this sort of make work.

_As of sunrise this morning, Kusagakure has ceased to exist, _came the biting reply. _Are your orders clear?_

_ Yes, Leader-sama, _Kisame thought back.

_Good. If the explosion was caused by Kusa's enemies, track down the guilty parties. Capture them if possible so that we may learn the secrets of the weapon or kill them._

_ Yes, Leader-sama._

_ Zetsu, coordinate with Itachi and Kisame._

_ Yes._

The connection cut out and Kisame turned to Itachi.

"I put my foot in it, didn't I?" he asked.

Itachi nodded. Kisame laughed light-heartedly.

"What do you suppose happened to Kusa?" the swordsman asked, trying to start a conversation with his partner.

"We don't have anything to form a hypotheses."

"Too true. But I bet Leaf is responsible."

Itachi nodded. He'd wanted to kill Pain ever since he learnt of the Sandaime's assassination and the attack on Tea. The strike endangered the two things he held dear in his heart of hearts: his village and his brother. But killing Pain was pointless so long as Madara and Akatsuki survived. And since Itachi wasn't powerful enough to handle Madara, Pain and the other members of Akatsuki together, he'd controlled his fury and chose to exercise patience. The news of Kusa's destruction was reward enough for his tolerance. It meant that Hi no Kuni's cause wasn't hopeless.

"They're the obvious suspects," he agreed.

"It must be the Nine-tail jinchuuriki that did it, which means your brother is involved."

"Possibly," Itachi agreed again. Kisame's arguments were reasonable.

"Aren't you excited about the chance to meet your brother, Itachi-san?" Kisame asked with a gruff laugh. "I bet he's eager to meet you."

"We will see." Changing the subject, he said, "I wonder what Leader-sama meant by capturing the perpetrators to learn the secrets of the technique. If my stupid little brother's teammate is involved, it was a tailed beast bomb and that is a very crude technique. The only requirement is that one be a jinchuuriki."

"Maybe the boy learnt to alter it some?" Kisame ventured.

"Perhaps."

xxxxx

Sasuke gulped down the water from his canteen and once his thirst was satiated, handed it to Sakura. He'd made Naruto drink some already.

"This is thirsty work," he spoke aloud, wiping his mouth on his sleeve.

"No question about it," Sakura agreed.

"Wish we could have taken one of the regular trails."

"We daren't in the condition Naruto's in."

"You're right, of course. But cross country carrying Naruto isn't a walk in the park."

"Better this than having him or us buying the farm, Sasuke. You can rest for a while if you want. I'll keep watch."

"Yeah. Just hope we catch with Jiraiya-sensei soon."

"Me, too."

xxxxx

Onoki was one very kage this evening. He glared at his aide and intel head in equal measure.

"What do you mean the fire suppressant seals were bogus?" he asked angrily.

"It seems the vast majority of seals supplied to the civilian houses were fakes, Tsuchikage-sama," the intel head reported calmly. "Our people assisting the rescue and firefighting efforts in Kusagakure have confirmed this with numerous Grass shinobi."

"Explain."

"This is what we believe happened. As you know, Kusa was a client state of Hi no Kuni and received a large sum of monies yearly from Fire to maintain their status as an ally. This allowed Kusa's military commanders and civilian leaders to live lavishly while the going was good. In the last few years, with Fire country heavily committed on multiple fronts and preparing for war, the baksheesh levels plummeted. Since Kusa's command wasn't willing to compromise on their life style, they compromised on their defense and the fire suppressant seals, which have to be annually replaced with new ones were the first to go. Apparently, they installed the genuine stuff on their military installations and sold 'genuine' ones to the civilians."

Onoki shook his head.

"That is bad."

"Our people have been encountering similar issues when doing combined operations with their Kusa counterparts. It's just that, before this firestorm, no one paid any attention to it. It's the way of things among the client states, after all."

"I knew they have been having financial problems from the way their ambassador always whinges about money, but I did not think it was that bad."

"Yes, Tsuchikage-sama."

"So, for the want of a few honest men, our war against the pricks in Fire hangs in the balance," Onoki shook his head. "Sometimes I wonder whose side god is on."

xxxxx

As Zetsu emerged out of the ground in a cluster of trees and rocks a hundred yards from the hill summit, the sweet swell of ripening man-flesh hit his nostrils. _Yum, dinner served._

Zetsu scanned the area for chakra signatures, but detecting none that were large enough to indicate an adept, he cautiously climbed the mountain and entered the observation post. The closer he got, the stronger the scent of bodies in the initial stages of decay. It made him discover ten bodies inside the building with slit throats and peaceful expressions on their fly covered faces. Two were sprawled haphazardly, but it did not take a genius to tell those ninja had been killed in their sleep and their bodies dumped because someone needed their cots.

A few minutes of search found the cots on the building roof. Zetsu verified the attackers had been three in number and noted the clear line of sight from the roof to the ruined city. His senses told him that the chakra used here had been unique – a mix of human and nature – and enough had been used to leave an indelible mark on the wood of the cot.

So, the attackers had used this position to fire their technique at the city, but there did not seem to be nearly enough chakra expended to account for the magnitude of the explosion. Something had to explain the discrepancy and Zetsu meant to find out. He got down on his knees to smell the wood and that was when he noted the salt and pieces of rubber on the cot and the ground.

_What does salt and rubber have to do with an explosion?_

xxxxx

Onoki opened his scroll and with a muffled cough, reached for his brush.

"Let's get the meeting started, shall we?" he said. "What's on the itinerary?"

"We're to discuss the supply situation for the invasion, the state of Kusa and the message from Konoha," the aide replied.

"All right," Onoki said, looking pointedly at his head of logistics, "do we have an update from Kusa on the supply situation?"

"An incomplete one, Tsuchikage-sama."

The Sandaime nodded

"Go on."

"I'll list our status on various items. There's bound to be some error here, because these are estimates, but we can assume that most are these line items are accurate within a 10% margin of error.

We've lost eighty percent of rations stockpiled at the depot. This will not affect our troops terribly in the short run because we have fifteen days of rations stockpiled close to the front as part of our preparations for an offensive on Konoha proper. Moreover, our people can forage to some limited extent.

We've lost roughly three-fourths of our medical herb stores. This is going to have a major impact on our casualty rates once the stocks on the front run out.

Our stock of explosive tags and various seal arrays appears to be largely unharmed at this point.

Chakra pills stores are also intact.

The inventories of kunai, shuriken, wires, sandals, uniforms, etc are hit to various extents. They're still in the process of inventorying the loss and damage figures. Worst-case estimation is our troops will be wearing tattered uniforms and be stuck using somewhat inaccurate kunai and shuriken for the next four or five months while our production catches up with the losses.

The major donkey stable was caught in the periphery of the blast with few survivors. So, turnaround times for supplying units on the front is going to shoot sky high until we can make good the loses. This is obviously, the biggest issue."

"What are your suggestions?" Onoki asked.

"Seize donkeys and mules from merchant caravans for the present. Approach Ame and Kaze no Kuni to see if they will sell us their beasts for an acceptable price."

"And what price do you deem acceptable?" the Daimyo's liaison asked.

The quartermaster shrugged.

"We don't get the donkeys, we'll have to pull three regiments from the front."

The liaison nodded.

"Your advice then?" Onoki asked.

"Supplies at the front will be constrained for two months while we make good our losses of the beasts of burden. I don't advocate retreat at this time. We can curtail our offensive operations for the time being, though it will give Fire time to prepare their positions."

Onoki made a note on his scroll.

"So be it," he said aloud. To his head of intelligence, he asked, "The state of Kusa?"

"Kusa is a net liability for us from hence forth. They have lost their city, their chain of command and by our best estimates, fifty percent of their total force. The influx of about fifteen thousand refugees from the city to the rest of the country is going to cause law and order problems as well. We'll have to take care of that. It looks like we'll avert a civil war because most of their troops are on the front lines, but we don't know how long we can keep them there. They have no reason to remain there other than revenge. Even that is not going to be enough because those men and women are going to want to return to hunt for their surviving kith and kin. Further, there's the issue of pay, in that, their paymasters are pushing up daisies right now."

"What can we do?"

"We can institute a program to hunt the survivors ourselves and reunite them with their family members on the front or elsewhere. We can also pay them directly ourselves."

Onoki nodded thoughtfully.

"I can see us doing it for the duration of this war. We'll pay them at their standard rates and not at ours. We'll send instructions to our commanders to use up the Grass nin because I don't want a nation full of blooded veterans without leaders on our border once the conflict ends."

"Yes, Tsuchikage-sama."

"I'm glad that's settled," the Sandaime said. Looking over his shoulder at his aide, he said, "Now, the issue of Konoha's message. Chuunin Yuuto, could you read the communiqué aloud for us? I urge the rest of the members to hold their comments until the full message is read."

The aide nodded and read:

"To our Honorable cousin, the Sandaime Tsuchikage and his lord and master, the Daimyo of Tsuchi no Kuni,

"The turmoil between our nations has been long and bitter, stretching back decades. But through those many years and the many wars we'd fought, our armies have always respected the laws of war. Samurai killed samurai and ninja killed ninja in our conflicts. There has never been an incident where either your nation or mine targeted civilian population centers as targets in and of itself. And glad were we all for it because it meant our wars were fought honorably and our families were safe at home.

"Sadly, in the current conflict, the laws of war have been broken. The capital of Tea, which our Daimyo claims domain, was attacked in a cowardly manner. Civilians were targeted with murderous intent and thousands upon thousands killed mercilessly while they were being evacuated. The agent of this act is the rogue organization, Akatsuki, which has your support. Perhaps they thought we are weak and could not defend ourselves. We waited for your condemnation of their blatant violation of the laws of war, but you did not do it.

"So, here we stand. Hi no Kuni has carried out a demonstration of a weapon in our arsenal in the land of Kusa that is as powerful as the one used by Akatsuki to level Tea capital. We are not defenseless and we are prepared to retaliate for the destruction of our cities. For every one of ours that is destroyed henceforth, we will destroy two of yours and your allies.

"We implore you to restrain the rogue organization Akatsuki. The war they want and the war we will give you if you and they continue down your present path will have no victors.

The Godaime Hokage."

"Your thoughts?" Onoki asked.

The meeting desolved into chaos.

xxxxx

Author's notes:

Three chapters in a month. Go outside and check if the world's ending. ^_^

I hope you liked the chapter. Thanks to The Unicorn for convincing me that you can't get a firestorm in Kusa with active seals. So, since I'm the master of this universe, I decided to bring in corruption to explain it away. Why work hard when you can use corruption to explain the impossible thing? Keep reading!


	32. Meetings

The Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 29 - Meetings

Disclaimer: Which scumbag warlord doesn't use child soldiers? Stop this Kony nonsense and support your soldiers when they're sent to kill these scumbags.

At Ame Capital...

Konan served a cup of piping hot tea to Madara, who savored a sip and nodded in her direction. The masked leader of Akatsuki was very particular about his tea. Pein, who was the other participant of this meeting, did not care for tea. He liked hot sake and his first bowl was still half full. She would probably have to dump the cooled contents and fetch him another.

"I'm concerned," Madara said, returning the teacup to the table. He pushed the cup in Konan's direction and picked up a report he'd brought with him to the meeting.

"The situation in Kusa?" Pein asked. The explosion that had destroyed Hidden Grass had been confirmed to be nuclear in origin. It had poisoned the land and ruined the supplies that survived the initial explosion. It had also driven sick shinobi who'd been rushed into the area for the rescue and reclamation effort. Many of those poor folk had died a horrible death. As a result, a bare two weeks after the initial explosion, Iwa and Kusa forces had retreated back into Kusa's border abandoning their gains in Hi no Kuni. It was either that or die on the vine at that point.

"That's one concern, yes," Madara responded, "but that's not all. It's unfortunate that Iwa had to pull back and let up on Konoha. It's even more unfortunate that Wind's idiot of a Daimyo surrendered his country to Fire. But the thing I'm most concerned about is that Konoha has a weapon now that makes our plans for Akatsuki moot."

"I'm not sure I follow. Could you explain?" Pein asked.

"What is our ultimate goal with Akatsuki?"

Pein and Konan exchanged looks.

"World peace."

"That's correct. And while you and I - and the other members of Akatsuki - do not agree on the means, we agree on the ends and we agree on certain pre-conditions. One of them is the destruction of the power of the Hidden villages, especially, the five great powers of the shinobi world.

"Yet, here we stand. Konoha has a doomsday weapon that is as powerful as anything we ever wanted to build. From the sparse intel we have on it, it seems that they can deploy the weapon anywhere and scale it as they want."

Pein nodded.

"It's going to be a headache dealing with the fallout, I'll admit, but it's not the end of the world. I believe our plan can be salvaged yet."

"In that case, you're more optimistic than I," Madara responded. "The problem here is that Konoha has demonstrated that nuclear weapons are practical. No one knows right now how they managed it, but I bet you a million ryou that the thought running through every Daimyo's and Kage's mind is 'how do I develop a similar capability.' So, even if we gather all the bijuu and build your doomsday weapon, it'll be just one among many and Akatsuki'll be just another player in the game. The status quo would not change and where would that leave our plans for world peace?"

"If the thing were easy, it would have been done a long time back," Pein retorted. "We need to get concrete intel on how Konoha built their weapon. Until then, we won't know for sure whether they can reproduce it as their propaganda claims. And if they can, then yes, my plan is moot. But that's why as contingencies, we have so many other plans, including the one you favor. And whatever happens, including the scenario where Konoha's weapon is reproducible and the other Elemental nations can discover the mechanics themselves, we have a few years while they do. That gives us more than enough time to capture the biju and execute our plans."

"Assuming that Konoha doesn't take us out."

"Yes, assuming Konoha or any of the other villages don't take us out. But I'm not too worried on that front. Even if we're unfortunate and Konoha wins this war, they'll need time to consolidate their gains and everyone else will be busy preparing for war. Certainly, all players will out of necessity step lightly until they're confident of their strength."

Madara closed his eyes and thought it over. Finally, after a long minute, he nodded agreement.

"I still believe you're entirely too optimistic and that the events of the past few weeks are going to come back to haunt us. I'm especially worried that we're underestimating Konoha's probable response against Akatsuki for reducing one their cities. If I'd known they had a similar capability, I wouldn't have ordered you to destroy their city as a terror weapon, but I did not and I did. Still, so long as the location of the statue is hidden and our control of Ame from getting out, I think we'll survive."

"More tea?" Konan asked.

"Yes, please," Madara replied.

"And I'd like a bowl of sake myself," Pein added.

Konan poured out their drinks quickly and turned to Madara.

"So, what do we do?"

"There are several things we need to do, actually. Off the top of my mind, we must send Sasori into Fire to gather intel on Konoha's weapon. Further, we need to start tracking the jinchuurikis as well as identify the locations of the One- and Two-Tails. We must ensure that whatever happens, Ame and Akatsuki's connection to Ame are not exposed. We also need..."

xxxxx

"Kakashi, it was good of you to find the time to meet us. We're grateful that you could clear your calendar in the middle of a war to hear our concerns," Koharu said.

Kakashi nodded amiably, even though it wasn't his choice to meet the late Sandaime's old teammates and advisors. He'd been avoiding the meeting for two weeks now, but there were onlu so many excuses one could make and by this point, his sercretary had just about made all of them.

"My door is always open to Konoha's elders. Tea?" he asked.

"We prefer sake, actually," Homura answered for both.

"Sake it is. I'll have Kuno fetch them," Kakashi said, ringing the bell for his assistant.

Chuunin Kuno entered the Hokage's relaxation room - so named because it was attached to the Hokage's office and it was a place where the Hokage could retreat to relax from the stresses of their office or meet and greet powerful and important visitors in a less formal atmosphere - in response to his summons.

"Yes, Godaime-sama."

"Please bring us two bowls of hot sake and green tea. Also send out a summons to Jounin Commander Shikaku to join us at his convenience."

"Yes, Sir," the chuunin said and withdrew.

Kakashi turned back to his visitors and nodded towards the window and the wide open beyond.

"It's a pleasant weather that we're having these last few days, isn't it?" he asked. He wanted to steer the conversation in a harmless direction by making small talk until Shikaku joined him.

Koharu smiled.

"I much prefer the weather at this time of the year be a little less cloudy, but yes, the weather has been pleasant."

They stuck with the small talk until Shikaku joined them a few minutes later. As jounin commander, the Nara's office was just down the hall. He'd been in the middle of a meeting himself before he was summoned.

"Shikaku, please be seated," Kakashi said, "Elders Homura and Koharu are here to air their concerns on the subject of Naruto's and Team 7's continued failure to return to the village."

"I see," the jounin commander said, nodding as if the subject was new to him. He turned to face the two elders.

"It's been two months since your boy destroyed Kusa, Kakashi," Homura addressed the Godaime. "Why hasn't he and his teammates come home? Why aren't they responding to your orders?"

"I appreciate your concern, Elder Homura, and I hope my explanation will go towards putting your fears to rest." Pause. "The problem is that the demands of campaigning for the last three years running has pushed my kids to the brink. They're battle fatigued and the last two missions that I had assigned them didn't exactly help. It's my fault, I suppose for not noticing the signs sooner, but fighting S-ranked criminals while operating alone in a hostile country where they were, for all practical purposes, abandoned did not help the issue. This was quickly followed by the late Sandaime's death, their victory at Wind, and their mission to destroy Kusa. This combination of events and the stressful environment has broken the proverbial camel's back."

"Which is just a fancy way of saying your kids couldn't take it and they're AWOL. Do you even know where they are?" Koharu asked.

Kakashi looked at Shikaku. Jiraiya had mailed him as soon as Team 7 reached his camp, but it was better to have the jounin commander allay the Sandaime's teammates' fears on that front. He suspected that they wouldn't believe him unless he shared Team 7's current location with them. And if they did, they'd throw a big fit for allowing his kids to remain at a camp that was surrounded by hostile forces.

"We know where they are, Elders. Their exact location is a secret, of course, but rest assured that we're getting daily updates about their status," the Nara replied.

Homura nodded and Koharu leaned forward.

"And what is their status?" she asked.

"Sasuke and Sakura are functional. Naruto is recovering. It might be another month or so before he can safely return to duty. This lull in fighting is a godsend for them and us."

"Can your boy do the same to another city should the need arise?" Homura asked. "Or are there others who know the technique he used?"

"Not in the condition he is right now, but yes, there's no physical reason why he shouldn't be able to do it to another city. Psychologically, we don't have the information to be sure. Whatever profile we had is ruined because of his current condition. I believe that he will, if asked, though he might require justification of our orders. As to whether the technique is usable by others, I believe so, Elders. The technique is stored in our forbidden jutsu library and while no one else knows it right now, given sufficient time, any reasonably skilled shinobi should be able to do it. Provided they can supply the chakra needed to fire the technique, of course."

Homura and Koharu shot glances at each other and rose from their seats.

"That we can live with. Thanks again for sparing the time to listen to us, Kakashi."

"It was my pleasure, Elders," Kakashi said pleasantly as he rang up Kuno and asked the chuunin to show the two oldsters out. Once the door was closed behind them, he turned to Shikaku and with a yawn, massaged his eyes. "That should keep them happy for a week, I should think."

"A week and a half at most, I should think," the Nara replied with a wry smile. He had dark circles under his eyes himself. Sobering, he said, "I would be a lot happier myself if Team 7 were somewhere inside our territory or at least not trapped in a camp surrounded by pissed off Iwa and Kusa nin."

"So would I," Kakashi confessed, "but I'm not sure Sasuke and Sakura will obey an order to move Naruto out of the camp if I gave it. Which is why I haven't ordered them."

"We used up those kids, you think?" Shikaku asked. That'd be a tragedy for Konoha and the three teens. Battle fatigue in your early teens ruined your life and it was the rare afflicted nin who saved themselves from having their lifespan cut short. That was the personal tragedy. Konoha could use Team 7's skills and talents such as theirs showed up maybe once in a generation, and the way things had been shaping up, it looked like those skills were just about lost, which was Leaf's tragedy. At least, the sannin and the Yondaime had a chance to train the next generation before one sacrificed his life, another took over the external intelligence network, and the other two were used up. From where Shikaku stood, it increasingly looked like Kakashi's students wouldn't even get that chance.

"I hope not," Kakashi sighed. "It'd be my fault entirely if they are."

"Needs of the war, Kakashi. Still, it is a damn shame."

Kakashi nodded.

"You really think that someone else can master Naruto's technique?" Shikaku asked.

"Not an individual by himself, no," the Godaime replied, "but a team acting together should."

Shikaku thought it over and conceded the point.

"Very likely yes. How are the talks with Wind coming along?"

"There's a lot of gnashing of teeth in their camp, right now. Unlike last time, however, we don't have our own internal troubles to export to them, and we're trying to strike a fair deal in the interests of securing peace in the long term so they're cooperating. It helps that we hold so many hostages from their anti-Hi no Kuni faction."

"So long as the Wind border with us is stable, it's a good thing for us."

"Very," Kakashi acquiesced. "My biggest headache these days is Danzo."

Shikaku who was privy to that compartment shook his head.

"The man is devoted to ensuring Konoha's supremacy, but has an one-track mind that can't see any path but the direct," he said. "Too bad he's a slave to his ambitions and his ambition requires he sit in your seat."

"I'm worried about the support he has started to enjoy in Konoha again," Kakashi confessed.

"You have more supporters and more influential ones at that," the Nara pointed out.

"Quite. I'm not afraid of Danzo posing a direct challenge to the seat. I'm afraid that the support is going to make him even more of an idiot with respect to his ambition."

"Possibly. But since he and his unit are in Rice facing Kumo. Their skills at assassination and ambushes are well suited for the campaign there. I'm sure its needs will keep him focused on the job at hand until we reach an arrangement with Kumo."

"Afterwards?" Kakashi asked in a pique. He knew the answer, but he felt anger flash at Danzo and his continued stupidity on the issue of coveting the Hokage's seat.

"Afterwards is afterwards. Danzo could die of natural causes or be killed by an assassin before we negotiate a peace with Kumo. If he survives, his troops are bound to be weakened with the order you've given Anko to use them up and we can take him out. Covertly or overtly. If we have peace and we have to act openly, the loss of his unit shouldn't hurt our readiness levels all that much. Not with the way things are shaping up in Tea."

Kakashi smiled at the mention of Tea. The country that had been a pain in the ass for the past three years was now overwhelmingly pro-Hi no Kuni after the destruction of their capital and the valiant defense mounted to stave off that destruction by Leaf nin. Akatsuki couldn't have screwed up worse on that front.

"All right, Shikaku, I concede," the Godaime said. "I wanted to talk to you about our readiness for an offensive on the Kusa front as well. How are the supplies of Kabuto's wonder weapons?"

xxxxx

Naruto wasn't good at shoji. It was a good thing that his opponent wasn't a great player himself. To make the resultant game even worse, Naruto had the annoying habit of taking too long to plot his moves and so did his counterpart. Still, there was nothing much to do in a camp under siege. As a result, even the shitty game being played in the medical tent had attracted half a dozen recovering shinobi with nothing better to do with their time as there was only one shoji board around.

Naruto's opponent, an experienced operator named Jin was recovering from a mild case of chakra exhaustion. His squad had been ambushed by one of Iwa's jinchuurikis a few days back during a patrol. They'd fought their ambushers to a standstill and retreated in good order without loss of life. One member had been badly burned, however and had to be evacuated to Konoha after a respectable price had been paid to the toads. The others had suffered mild injuries with the exception of Jin who'd been at point. He had engaged the jinchuuriki and bought time for the others to respond to the ambush.

The Toad Sannin had built a fortress on a small hill overlooking one of the three wagon-worthy roads to the frontline once the combined forces of Iwa and Kusa commenced their retreat to the Grass border. His rationale had been to strangle a major supply line to the front, slowing down troop build up as well as defense preparations and forcing the enemy to commit frontline troops to ensuring security in the rear. Normally, Jiraiya wouldn't have tried such a risky tactic under ordinary circumstances - while his unit threatened a major supply line, the fact remained that they were cut off from support themselves and heavily outnumbered. But his unit was made of experienced blooded operators who were also skilled in the use of Seals of Power and Leaf forces on the front had been weak when he made the decision. The troops on the front had been significantly reinforced since in preparation for Fire's first offensive on the Kusa front and the Jiraiya's unit had been strengthened by the addition of two platoons of Leaf ANBU specializing in tracking and assassination. The ANBU had smuggled themselves in through the front lines while it had been leaky with the enemy in retreat.

Not to be outdone and in response to the threat posed by Jiraiya's unit to the surrounding countryside, the enemy had camped two companies of elite Iwa and Kusa troops up and down the road. Since both sides patrolled aggressively, there had been two battles a week on average for the past month and a half. So far, the Leaf nin had inflicted a disproportionate share of the casualties and forced Iwa to withdraw one of their jinchuurikis from the front.

Naruto, for his part, did not care about the tactical situation or the dangers faced by his comrades. He understood they were all in a high threat environment, but the part of his brain that used to care seemed to have been turned off. These days, his attention focused on his games. Today, his focus was even more intent as he was losing the game badly.

For the first month after he'd destroyed Kusa following his sensei's orders, he hadn't bothered to talk much, if at all. He ate if someone fed him and he slept a sleep filled with nightmares. He hadn't cared for games, human company or even Sasuke and Sakura. Now, with two months between him and the massacre, he was slowly getting back to normal. It still didn't feel right to hold a kunai or a shuriken in his hand, but his dreams weren't always so horrible and he woke up screaming only once or twice a night. This was arguably a huge improvement over the first month.

"Your move, Jin," Naruto said, moving a piece. He'd thought about conceding the game - he was three moves away from defeat - but if he quit, someone else would take the board and he'd have to wait several hours before he could get it back. Perhaps he could start a bet on the next game?

xxxxx

Itachi peered at the map supplied by the Iwa captain. The beautifully drawn map contained bare minimum terrain details, but described the spots where Iwa or Kusa patrols had encountered their Leaf counterparts in the last one and a half months. The dates of the various encounters were neatly scribbled alongside the markings and though there had no discernible pattern to the patrols, he and Kisame had setup near a spot where there had been three skirmishes to date and waited in ambush.

Today was the fourth day at the ambush position and so far, no Leaf unit had wandered into the area for a shellacking. As waiting in prepared ambushes went, this wasn't anything out of the ordinary. He and Kisame would wait another couple of days and if things didn't pan out at their current spot, they would relocate to another likely ambush location and try their luck again. They had all the time in the world, after all, and had only to destroy a Konoha squad once or twice to put Jiraiya's unit on the back foot.

xxxxx

Sasuke pushed aside the flap of the command post tent and walked in with a nod to those already gathered. Sighting her teammate, Sakura sidled up to him and grabbed the bowl of hot soup and spoon he bore in his hands. The Uchiha scion gave up the dish without complaint. He knew that Sakura had been busy preparing poisons and antidotes for most of the day and was likely famished.

"Good of you to join us, Sasuke," Jiraiya greeted. "We were discussing the route for a reinforced patrol that we want to use to spring an enemy ambush and annihilate their troops. I was hoping that you and Sakura would like to join the hunt."

Sasuke shrugged. He was excited by the thought of possible battle after a month spent cooped up in the camp taking care of Naruto.

"I'm game," the raven-haired teen said. Then, casting a glance at his teammate, "Don't know about Sakura though as she's likely tired from working with chemicals."

"I'm definitely in," the Haruno replied hotly, shooting her friend a dirty look. He should have known better than to question her readiness for duty.

Sasuke smiled sickly and shot an apologetic look at the kunoichi. He knew he was going to suffer for his mistake in their next spar.

Jiraiya ignored the byplay, concentrating on the map spread on the table.

"Here's the planned route for this patrol," he said, tracing a line drawn on the map. The squad leaders and I decided on this route because it takes you close to three spots where there have been multiple ambushes so far. Your operational orders are simple. Follow the route and if you encounter an enemy unit or an ambush, engage the enemy or spring the ambush. Destroy the opposition and withdraw with your prisoners and wounded. Do not continue with the patrol after the first encounter. If you're significantly outnumbered, retreat back to base in fighting order. We'll try our luck again another day. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Sir," everyone answered in chorus.

xxxxx

They were half an hour into their patrol when Sakura felt the two powerful and suppressed chakras waiting in ambush up ahead a hundred yards into the copse of trees that lay alongside their patrol route. She immediately signaled a halt and communicated the likely numbers and disposition of the enemy to the others.

"I'll take point," Sasuke murmured to the patrol leader.

"You sure?" the man asked.

"Yes. I'll go in with my sharingan active under a genjutsu. I'll spring the ambush and your squad can counterattack."

The patrol leader turned to Sakura.

"I'll support from range. I'm the only decent medic in the camp and I'm very good at genjutsu. If the situation requires I play a direct combatant role, I'll do that."

"All right. Shed your non-combat load people. Take a drink and set out in two."

xxxxx

Itachi sensed the chakra signatures approaching at a steady pace and tapped his dozing partner's shoulders to wake him. He signaled the strength of the patrol, which had more numbers than a typical Konoha patrol to Kisame. Then it was just a matter of waiting patiently until the suspicious Leaf nin walked into the kill zone.

It is an understatement to say that Itachi was surprised when his younger brother walked into the ambush zone a few minutes later. Sasuke and his team had disappeared off the face of the earth a couple of months back, but Akatsuki command had merely assumed they'd been pulled back to the rear for rest and recuperation after their successful and historical campaign in Kaze no Kuni.

Still, even surprised, there was only one thing to do and without a word of warning to Kisame, Itachi shunshined in front of Sasuke himself.

"Hello, Little Brother. How are you?" the elder Uchiha asked, his sharingan spinning in a blur as he made eye contact with his sibling.

Kisame appeared beside his teammate a second later. He appeared miffed. This wasn't how the ambush was supposed to go.

"Kisame," Itachi spoke before his partner could complain. "I have a long overdue discussion to conduct with my brother. Could you take care of the others and ensure we're undisturbed?"

The blue-skinned swordsman chuckled laughter and hefted his sword. He stepped a pace forward, cajoling his prey as he did.

"Come out, little Leaf nin. We'r..." Further speech was impossible as Itachi severed his spinal cord with a precise jab into his partner's neck. Kisame's sword screeched as its owner fell dead, pushing chakra into his body to initiate the healing process. But all the healing in the world cannot reconstruct a severed spine so long as the blade is stuck in the spinal column.

"I'm glad that you finally know the truth about our clan, Sasuke," Itachi spoke in a measured voice as his partner expired at his feet.

Sasuke held up an arm to signal his comrades to hold their position and stepped toward his brother.

"I forgive you your sins, Big Brother."

xxxxx

Author's notes:

Sorry for the wait. I knew where I wanted the plot to go in this chapter, but I had a mild case of writer's block that I could not be bothered to try to overcome and at other times, I was just plain lazy. Anyways, hope you like this chapter's end. Bet none of you saw this coming.

Thanks to Gameoutcast for pointing out a factual error (proton cycle fusion weapons don't come out with fallout, though there's plenty of gamma radiation to go around.) I've retconned chapter 30 so that Naruto uses D20 as the fuel for his weapon. The choice for D20 is decided by two points. Tritium is radioactive and would kill Naruto and D2 fused with D2 releases lots of neutrons, which is precisely what you need for fallout. Thanks to the Barflies for pointing that out. You can all call me an idiot for ignoring the fact that no neutron was released in proton+proton fusion, btw. My oversight and my fault that.


	33. Snippet skip as full chapter is up

By this time, you know the drill. New chapter's been uploaded containing all scenes - and mistakes unedited - from the snippet. Click next to read and enjoy!


	34. Exposed Throats

The Best Laid Plans

Arun

Chapter 30 - Exposed Throats

Disclaimer: Forget killing all the lawyers. Start with the bankers and the politicians who're conning/micromanaging the world into the abyss.

A month later...

Oe Temmu, the younger step brother of the late Daimyo of Hi no Kuni and one of the claimants to the throne of the land, walked into the room with his consort the Lady Uno-no-sarara.

Ibiki and his companion, who'd been enjoying a cup of tea while waiting for their hosts, stood up and bowed to the noble usurper.

"Good evening, Lord and Lady," greeted Ibiki.

Temmu nodded, imperiously. He was convinced that the presence of one of the most senior members of Konoha's Intelligence department indicated that the village leadership had decided to throw in their lot with him.

"Good evening, Ibiki. Please be seated. How are things back at the village? Do you see an end in sight to this damnable war?"

The torture expert made himself comfortable and started his briefing. Oe Temmu listened carefully, asking such questions as were pertinent and they spent the next hour in small talk and discussion on the course of the war.

"How may We help you today, Jounin Ibiki?" Temmu asked at the end of the hour.

Ibiki and his companion exchanged glances.

"We're here on the subject of your claim to the throne."

Temmu raised an eyebrow, feigning surprise. It really wasn't. For the past month, messengers from Konoha had met each of the other claimants to the throne and had conveyed Konohagakure's refusal to support their claims. Temmu was the last remaining contender and it stood to reason that the Leaf shinobi would send someone to meet him and announce their support for his faction.

"And what is your leadership's stance on the subject?" he asked.

"The Godaime expresses his regret that he will not be able to support your claim to the throne."

Temmu's mouth snapped open and remained stuck in that position.

"If not me, then who else?" the lord asked. "It's become common knowledge that the Hokage had rejected everyone else."

"Konohagakure are not supporting anyone at this point in time," Ibiki explained.

"Do you shinobi think that you can seize power for yourselves? The noble houses will not stand to be commanded by a bunch of ninja," Temmu retorted.

"Godaime Hatake Kakashi isn't interested in the Fire Throne."

"It certainly looks like he is from where I stand. I'll have you know that I'll not stand for it. A murderous thug for hire on my brother's - on my - throne."

"Once again, Lord, the Godaime isn't interested in the Fire Throne."

"Well, I won't let him have it. I'll gather the nobles and crush your village first," Temmu snarled.

"And this is why Konohagakure refuses to back you. You would start a civil war in the middle of a war on which hinges Hi no Kuni's survival," Ibiki's companion accused the Lord.

Ibiki held up his hand to silence his colleague.

"Let us not let passion cloud our judgments, Hideyoshi," the ANBU commander said. To Temmu, he said, "My companion perhaps spoke out of turn, Lord, but his words have truth behind them. That you and the others would push the country towards civil war when our forces were fighting on three fronts doesn't speak well of any of your leadership abilities."

Temmu mastered himself with difficulty.

"Get out of my house," he ground out his words. "I'll see your Hokage before the Council of Nobles."

"Actually," Ibiki replied pleasantly, "you won't. We conveyed one part of the Godaime's message. We did not convey the other."

"Well then, Sirrah, have your say and get the hell out of my house."

"It is simply this, Lord. You will send your wife, your parents and kids to Konohagakure with us where our forces will be able to ensure their safety."

"You would take hostages and blackmail me."

"Please, Lord. Blackmail is such a strong word. Let us not use it. We're better men than that," Ibiki smiled.

Samurai walked into the room from multiple doors, drawn by their master's angry words.

"It's out of the question. Now, get out or I'll have my retainers throw you out."

"You sure you want that, Lord," Ibiki asked, smiling still. If he was bothered by the mass of armed men standing at his back with drawn swords, it wasn't evident.

Temmu's eyes narrowed.

"If something untoward were to happen to me and my friend," the ANBU commander continued, "there would be an unfortunate incident at your home tonight. Sadly, one of our ninja would have gone rogue - the pressure of continuous war for three years getting to him, you see - and there'll be no survivors. Why, the shinobi would be so overwrought he would kill everything down to the rats. I'm sure we do not want that."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Actually, I think that the poor insane bastard might rape your wife and your daughter - She is eight, I believe, and way too young for such things. So, it would be a pity. - and sell them to a pimp in Kaze no Kuni. And you know how much the folks in Wind hate Fire nobles right now. Sad, really."

xxxxx

Konan found her friend frowning over an intelligence report in his study.

"Pein-sama, is anything the matter?"

Nagato stirred and cast a questioning eye at his companion.

"You were so immersed in the report that you lost situational awareness," Konan explained.

"I was reading this communique from Iwa from their intelligence head," he gestured at the unfurled scroll on the desk. "She is worried that there's been no update from either Itachi or Kisame for months now and concerned that there's been no report of mass casualties among the Leaf nin under Jiraiya's command."

Konan took a seat and pored over the message herself.

"I'm not seeing any cause for concern. These things tend to take time."

Pein nodded.

"I agree, absolutely. The delay could be caused by any number of reasons."

"One of the cell members could have fallen ill, for example, and they could be lying low until they're combat ready."

"Yes. I'm not worried about that. Both Itachi and Kisame are very dependable. Far more so than any of our other cells."

"So, what is it that has you worried?"

"The forces arrayed against Iwa and Kusa on Hi no Kuni front grow in strength even as we speak, while our nominal allies have to deal with a shattered supply line and insecure rear as well lost momentum and morale. I hate to say it, but it looks increasingly likely that the land of Fire will survive the war."

There wasn't anything Konan could say about that so she kept her counsel to herself.

xxxxx

"It is decided then," Inoichi gestured at the other two men in the room. The intelligence head had smuggled himself into Jiraiya's little fortress on the Kusa hill after news of Itachi's unplanned return to the fold. He'd then spent the next few weeks carefully debriefing the Konoha's mole in Akatsuki and the result had been an intelligence coup as good or better than the windfall from Oto or the defection of Kabuto. A brainstorming session at the end of those briefings had been a plan that had the potential to pull the carpet from under the rogue organization's feet.

Jiraiya and Itachi nodded without hesitation.

"I'll brief the Hokage," the Yamanaka clan leader informed the others. "I see no reason why he should reject it. We've all been aching to get our claws on Akatsuki and this is by far the best plan towards that end. The only practical and reasonable plan, to be perfectly honest."

"I would disagree with that," Itachi responded. "While it's true that there's no way to infiltrate Rain without Pein's cognizance, it is also true that Konoha has something that Akatsuki need. I'm sure you can work with the required people to leak information about Shukaku's location and spring an ambush when my organization sends people to collect the beast."

"There is that," Inoichi agreed, "but I'm afraid it won't get the political traction we need to implement it anywhere in our territory or that of our allies. Everyone knows what happened the last time Akatsuki thought they had a lead on the Shukaku and no one's going to want to risk another repeat of Tea capital. Ergo, that's neither practical nor reasonable."

Itachi nodded understanding. Even a genius never stops learning and he'd just learnt something new. Arguably, he'd never get to use it - making policy and playing politics were not part of his job description - but he filed it away just the same. He would not be half the shinobi he was if he learnt only those things that he considered pertinent to the immediate job.

"So, the village's hopes rest on my forlorn hope?" he asked.

Inoichi smiled and shook his head.

"Need to know, Itachi-san. And you do not have need to know."

"My apologies," Itachi responded. The question had been impertinent and unwise. What he did not know, he could not divulge if his mission failed and he was captured, after all.

"I guess this concludes today's session," Jiraiya pronounced. "Inoichi, how about the three of us share a drink?"

xxxxx

"Will wonders never cease?" Colonel Saigo Takamori, commanding officer, 3rd Restoration Brigade, observed as the last of the inbound high value shipment of materiel was delivered to his unit. "Logistics are actually meeting their delivery commitments for once."

Lt. Colonel Beppu Shinsuke, Takamori's executive officer scowled and punched his right fist into his left palm. His ancestral home was in territory captured by the invaders and though his family and closest retainers had escaped the pillaging and rapine, most of the common folks that were his responsibility to protect had not.

"Screw wonders," he barked gruffly, "This means we get to kill them Iwa and Kusa wogs and stack them up sky high."

"Patience, friend," Takamori counseled, "We still have a few more weeks to go before we can go about kicking the invaders out of our land. The rest of the assault brigades to be similarly replenished still and the shinobi and regular army reinforcements aren't at their staging points for the offensive yet."

3rd Restoration Brigade was camped fifteen miles from the Iwa-Kusa frontline where Hi no Kuni slowly built up the forces for their first offensive action on this front. The area was heavily patrolled by roving bands of shinobi and samurai as troops and materiel were moved into staging areas under heavy guard. 3rd Restoration Behavior had been pulled back from the Kaze no Kuni border where they hadn't seen any action and earmarked as one of the advance elements of the attack.

For all that Takamori counseled patience with his XO, the Colonel was still pissed that his war with Wind and the chance for glory said war brought had sputtered out with a whimper against the actions of Konoha's Three Flames. Hopefully, things would go better on this front and he would have a chance to lead his brigade into combat.

"Yes," Shinsuke agreed. The cold smile that lit his face as he spoke was that of a starved predator contemplating prey. "We'll get a chance to thank the Tsuchi army for their abstinence in holding captured ground through ever increasing deprivations in the face of our inevitable onslaught."

xxxxx

Mitokado Homura stared impassively at the Kaminari no Kuni representative as their underlings explained pleasantries and slowly warmed up to the subject over the course of an hour. Homura, who was more than seventy years old, was a past master at this game owing to his extensive experience as a liaison with the samurai clans of Hi no Kuni. Hell might freeze over, but he wasn't going to break eye contact or blink first, though his eyes hurt like you wouldn't believe.

Thankfully, before the pain got to be too much for him to bear, the Kaminari contingent finally got around to raising the subject of this meeting. Homura smiled grimly at his opposing member.

"It is indeed regrettable that Kusa had to be wiped off the map, but so was the destruction of Tea capital," he pointed out.

The Lightning noble nodded, a grave and discomfited expression etched on his visage.

"Kaminari no Kuni censures the rogue organization Akatsuki for their actions in Tea," he acknowledged.

Homura waited patiently for the other to continue.

"We saddened by the loss of life and the destruction of the two cities," the nobleman reiterated. "My Lord and Master, the Hon'able Daimyo of Kaminari no Kuni wants to ensure that such tragedies are avoided in the future at all costs."

_Ah,_ thought Homura. _That's why they called for this meeting._ He'd wondered whether Lightning wanted to raise the subject of the captured Two-tail jinchuuriki, but apparently, the destruction of Kusa and the implications for all Elemental nations rankled the Kaminari no Kuni ruler more.

The septuagenerian sat up straighter. The revelation of the agenda changed everything. Lightning was the first nation to initiate a formal conversation on the destruction of Kusa and if he played things right, Fire stood to gain quite a bit.

"The Hon'able Daimyo is wise. But how may we help you? Hi no Kuni must preserve the ability to defend ourselves against the indiscriminate use of such weapons. So long as the world remains the way it is and so long as other actors - be they state sponsored or states acting alone or together - hold and control similar weapons, my nation needs such a capability for self-defense."

The samurai lord nodded as if he understood Fire country's predicament.

"I'm sure that you'll do what's right for your country and your people. As my Lord and master will do what's good for his," the samurai responded after a moment's consideration.

Homura mentally translated. The response was a carefully worded threat. The Lightning Daimyo and Cloud's Kage were officially giving notice to Fire that a repeat performance of their doomsday weapon would not be tolerated.

"The people of Hi no Kuni have the highest regard for the Daimyo of Kaminari no Kuni. His wisdom is known to one and all," the Konoha diplomat responded without batting an eye. Translation: Your people have no need to fear me and mine.

"As my Lord and master would say, 'even monkeys fall from trees.'" Translation: Words are well and good, but anyone can make a mistake. What's the guarantee that something will not go wrong?

"Not seeing is a flower," Homura replied adroitly quoting another proverb. Translation: Reality cannot compete with the power of one's imagination. There's nothing that I can say or do that you'll make you trust me if you're paranoid.

The samurai nodded. He understood what the retired Leaf shinobi was driving at. However, he had responsibilities to his people and that meant...

"Giving birth is easier than worrying about it." Translation: It's very hard to trust because trust is so easily betrayed. Give me something solid that I can take back to my Daimyo and mollify his fears.

Homura nodded and switched topics. And in the interest of not being misunderstood, he addressed the problem as he took a more direct with his initial problem statement.

"Hi no Kuni's environment isn't one to fill a person's head with a sense of security and confidence," he confessed. "We face an existential threat with Iwa and Kusa on one direction. Then there are the unaddressed and long festering issues on our other borders. We fall seven times and stand up eight, but the rule of the land is as it always has been, 'the weak are meat; the strong eat.'" Translation: You talk about your Daimyo losing sleep, but what about mine? We are beset by enemies on all fronts.

The samurai lord brooded over Homura's statement in silence for a few moments.

"Perhaps an agreement can be reached that's mutually satisfactory," he said. Translation: Maybe if we make you a bit safer by defining clear cut boundaries for the proxy wars we fight with each other, we can reach a beneficial agreement that puts both our fears to rest.

"Perhaps," Homura agreed. Translation: What do you bring to the table?

xxxxx

Sandaime Tsuchikage Onoki rolled open an empty writing scroll, pulled out his brush and nodded at his subordinates.

"Status of the supply situation," he asked his quartermaster.

"We've met the mule procurement program's goals, Sandaime-sama, though there's been a greater than expected delay between purchase and delivery. In turn, this has caused a whiplash effect in deliveries to the front. Our troops facing the enemy haven't been starving exactly, but they have been living under straitened circumstances with most units paralyzed into defensive postures in the tactical and operational sense."

"You mean they aren't fit for combat operations," Onoki clarified. "I guess it's a good thing that Hi no Kuni units are also unprepared or I'd have lost an army and you'd have lost your head."

The quartermaster nodded, meeting the Sandaime's glare without flinching. Logistics is the art of the possible and his people had worked miracles to even keep the front supplied after the disaster in Kusa.

Onoki sighed.

"My apologies, quartermaster. While you counseled that we do not retreat from our lines, it was I who made the actual decision and responsibility for the result rests with me. How long before your people can supply enough materiel to the frontline troops so as to affect a change in their strategic posture?"

"Another month, Lord. If we can reduce the Sannin Jiraiya's fort and improve internal security, we may be able to save as much as a week and a half from the effort."

Onoki looked askance at his Head of Operations. The man shook his head in the negative.

"Not possible. They have strength in numbers with a far higher than normal population of powerful, blooded combatants and they're very well dug in."

"You heard the man," Onoki informed his quartermaster.

"Then a month from now, Sandaime-sama."

Onoki turned to his Head of Intelligence.

"And how long before Hi no Kuni can mount a credible defense or offense of the frontline?" he asked.

"We estimate five to six weeks for the former and ten weeks for the latter. They're pulling in those volunteer units armed of tradesmen and farmers armed with pikes and bows, a thin leavening of samurai to stiffen the ranks. We believe this indicates that their posture for the near future is going to be defensive in nature. So, we have time."

"Good. Some breathing room is all we need to crush those damnable tree-huggers. Pull out the Han and Roshi from their interdiction duties around Jiraiya's fort and move them to the front in five weeks. Start making movement plans, unit objectives and all that to resume the offensive in six weeks."

"Yes, Sandaime-sama."

"Dismissed."

xxxxx

"So, Oe Temmu wants to be difficult," retired General Tetsuzan Nagata said. An old, scarred veteran survivor of a hundred battles, the samurai lord was one of the most influential nobles in Hi no Kuni. Incidentally, he headed the faction that was against all four pretenders to the Daimyo's throne.

"That appears to be the case, Lord," Kakashi replied.

The samurai nodded and took a deep breath.

"Well, if that blowhard doesn't know what implacable means. Guess it's time someone taught him and the other vermin what it means."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"I'll talk to the others, Kakashi," the Tetsuzan continued. "And we'll see what'll see."

"Of course, Lord."

"Thanks for bringing this to my notice. Those dirty scumbags!"

After the oldster left, muttering imprecations against the late Daimyo's relatives, Kakashi turned to Ibiki.

"Hopefully, that takes care of the Lord Oe Temmu and his wife. Good job and carry on, Ibiki."

xxxxx

"Morning, Itachi."

The elder Uchiha brother looked up from his reading and nodded acknowledgement at his visitors.

"Morning, little brother! Naruto!" Itachi greeted his visitors. "What brings you by this morning?"

"We heard about your plan from Jiraiya-sensei and Inoichi-san."

"And..."

"I approve."

Itachi raised an eyebrow at his brother.

"Better this than a seppukku in all but name with me as your second. At the very least, your death would serve a greater purpose."

Seconds passed. Finally, the elder brother nodded.

"And you, Naruto? What are your thoughts on the subject?" he asked, genuinely curious. He'd learned about Naruto's actions in Kusa during his debriefing by Yamanaka Inoichi. It was regrettable that a new generation was making the same sacrifices he had, but by this point, he looked at the Yondaime's son as a kindred soul and one who'd been through enough to empathize with him.

"The ninja world and our way of life is thus ever saved by faceless heroes," Naruto replied in a somber tone, bowing deeply at the waist in honor of his friend's brother.

Itachi looked discomfited by the gesture.

"We all do what we can for peace," he said.

"Peace in our lifetimes," Sasuke seconded.

"And perhaps, peace forever," Naruto appended.

xxxxx

Later, in the day, as Team 7 were lunching together in silence, Naruto cleared his throat.

"Guys."

"Yes, Naruto," Sasuke asked.

Sakura had her mouth full and only raised an eyebrow.

"I think we need to return to Konoha. I want to talk to Kakashi-sensei."

xxxxx

Author's notes:

So, the plot is a little more fleshed out now for the finale. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I know I used to reply to individual reviews, but I don't have the time anymore. My apologies.

The old notes, which are still very relevant:

Been busy with life, work, baby and wife. And as a result, Kishimoto beat me to the Itachi saves the Shinobi world schtick. God, I hate it when that happens. But then, I haven't been fast with my updates and fully deserve to be robbed of my thunder.

Anyways, hope you like the snippet. I guess you can all guess what Itachi's mission is going to be, huh?


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